Aviation Safety Facts
The NTSB has cited the FAA as a cause or contributing factor in 241 accidents with 970 fatalities from '83-'95.
Valujet had an accident rate 14 times worse than its equals.
An NTSB memo in part reads.."....a fire should not be allowed to persist in any state of intensity in an airplane without the knowledge of the flight crew....A fire detection system should be required in Class D cargo compartments." The recommendation was..."rejected by the FAA because they believed the gain in safety would not justify the cost of requiring all aircraft to install such systems."�
Nineteen major airports in the U.S. are using metal detectors to catch explosives!
The FAA's security chief (Cathal Flynn) told the Inspector General of the D.O.T. (Mary Schiavo) that the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight #103 cost $1 billion. Trying to prevent another Pan Am #103 would cost $5-$10 billion over ten years. It "didn't justify the expense."
An FAA inspector was sent to inspect a plane whose door he didn't even know how to open.
Airline mechanics have been seen patching engines with duct-tape and fixing stuck flaps with a ball-peen hammer.
A D.O.T. study of FAA repair-station parts bins found 43% of parts bought from the manufacturer were bogus; 95% were fraudulent when they came from parts brokers.
The safest seat on an aircraft is next to an exit.
In '95 the FAA recorded 216 near-midair collisions. During the first few months of '96, there were 128.
Notes
- Per a report from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
