U.S. FAA survey reveals safety concerns about Southwest Airlines
There are fresh concerns within the United States aviation industry. Now, certain employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are worried about how local staff members are approaching looking over Southwest Airlines.
Internal woes
According to the Wall Street Journal, an internal FAA survey raised concerns from some inspectors about how the agency oversees the Texan airline. Altogether, approximately 75% of those who responded highlighted that the culture in the FAA’s Dallas-area location hasn’t progressed recently.
The journal writes about responses noting a toxic culture that sees FAA managers not listening to concerns raised by front-line inspectors. They are allegedly more interested in pandering to the operator.
Recent issues
Notably, in July this year, the US Office of Special Counsel shared a disclosure of wrongdoing. The disclosure stated that the FAA rushed oversight of accidents caused by pilot error and that it failed to inspect foreign-purchased planes for Southwest.
Giving an example, the statement highlighted the following: “The FAA determined that pilot error caused a February 2019 accident involving a flight that suffered damage to both wings while attempting to land at the Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Yet, the report was closed without further investigation by FAA’s Event Review Committee, despite an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. FAA determined that Southwest and union officials resisted its requests for additional investigation and pushed for quick closures, contrary to program criteria.”
The document further adds that several reports were made in this manner, despite proof that the incident demonstrated “an intentional disregard for safety.”
According to The Street, Southwest Airlines has since shared the following statement when asked about the matter: “Southwest maintains a culture of compliance, recognizing the safety of our operation as the most important thing we do, and any implication that we would tolerate a relaxing of standards is unfounded.”
This report comes at a time when Southwest has been dealing with a multitude of flight cancellations. It even declared an operational emergency heading into the weekend amid a high number of absences.
Southwest has also been dealing with issues surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX this year. Last month, a couple of lawsuits regarding this saga were thrown out.
Nonetheless, following the 737 MAX tragedies and the subsequent investigations, the FAA’s top management will be keen to address any potential oversights across the agency’s departments. After all, The US Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has recently confirmed that it will conduct a review of the FAA’s supervision during the 737 MAXs development.
Simple Flying reached out to Southwest for further comment on this week’s report. We will update the article with any announcements from the carrier.
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) president Casey Murray offered the following statement: “SWAPA has had the same concerns and expressed as much repeated to the FAA for years. We also have felt our concerns have been trumped by the pandering to the airline. SWAPA is hopeful that this sunlight being shed on the local office and the FAA as a whole will be the ultimate disinfectant and change will finally be brought to bear.” simpleflying.com