[Senate Hearing 111-518]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-518
AVIATION SAFETY:
OVERSIGHT OF FAA SAFETY INITIATIVES
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND SECURITY
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 10, 2009
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas,
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts Ranking
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine
BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
BILL NELSON, Florida JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE S. LeMIEUX, Florida
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
TOM UDALL, New Mexico SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
MARK WARNER, Virginia MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska
MARK BEGICH, Alaska
Ellen L. Doneski, Staff Director
James Reid, Deputy Staff Director
Bruce H. Andrews, General Counsel
Ann Begeman, Acting Republican Staff Director
Brian M. Hendricks, Republican General Counsel
Nick Rossi, Republican Chief Counsel
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND SECURITY
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, JIM DeMINT, South Carolina,
Chairman Ranking Member
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington GEORGE S. LeMIEUX, Florida
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska
MARK WARNER, Virginia
MARK BEGICH, Alaska
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on December 10, 2009................................ 1
Statement of Senator Dorgan...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Rockefeller................................. 13
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Statement of Senator DeMint...................................... 15
Statement of Senator Johanns..................................... 16
Statement of Senator Begich...................................... 19
Statement of Senator Hutchison................................... 23
Statement of Senator Klobuchar................................... 24
Statement of Senator Thune....................................... 27
Statement of Senator Lautenberg.................................. 36
Witnesses
Hon. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation
Administration................................................. 3
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted to Hon. Randolph Babbitt
by:
Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV.................................. 41
Hon. Byron L. Dorgan......................................... 41
Hon. Mark Begich............................................. 42
Hon. Bill Nelson............................................. 43
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 43
Hon. Claire McCaskill........................................ 47
AVIATION SAFETY:
OVERSIGHT OF FAA SAFETY INITIATIVES
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and
Security,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m. in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L.
Dorgan, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Dorgan. We're going to call the hearing to order.
This is a hearing of the Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on
Aviation. We welcome today the Honorable Randy Babbitt, the
Administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration.
We have held a number of hearings recently on the issue,
particularly of safety and fatigue and related matters. And
this hearing is a hearing to discuss a wide range of issues
with the Administrator. Mr. Babbitt is going to be talking
about what he has been involved in down at the FAA. He's
involved in a number of actions.
Shortly after he was sworn in as Administrator of the FAA
he held a ``call to action'' meeting. And that ``call to
action'' meeting brought in regional air carriers, pilots,
pilot's unions and many others to discuss and improve safety
and to reduce risk. The ``call to action'' initiatives have led
the FAA to seek voluntary commitment from air carriers to
implement certain flight operations quality assurances and
aviation safety action programs and various things. We'll talk
about that today.
The FAA has made progress in a number of areas. And there
are a number of areas where progress needs yet to be made. I
held a hearing recently and we talked about the issue of
fatigue and the fact that fatigue has been on the Most Wanted
List for 19 years of the NTSB. And Mr. Babbitt and the FAA are
working on that.
I was disappointed at the last hearing to understand the
time has slipped. We'll talk about that a bit with
Administrator Babbitt as well because we are determined to try
to drive this to a conclusion.
It is the case that commercial aviation in this country
delivers about 800 million people per year to their
destinations. 30,000 flights operate every day in this country
safely. We've had some tragic accidents, but few. And we also
know how to prevent accidents in the future by addressing
things that we understand are potential problems and cause
potential risk.
There are fatigue-related accidents that have occurred in
the last 20 years. And one, in my judgment quite recently, that
caused a good many fatalities. And it ought to require all of
us to be urgent in our request to the FAA to make progress on
dealing with these issues.
Recent FAA equipment outages have caused some concern. And
we will ask about those today as well because it caused major
delays and chaos across the country in the air traffic system,
one November 19 of this year and one in 2008. The bird strike
issues, the Hudson River mid air collision. Those are both
issues. Talking about the helicopter and fixed wing mid air
collision. The bird strike with the landing in the Hudson River
by a commercial airplane raises other issues I know for the
NTSB and also for the FAA.
Airworthiness directives violations, I won't talk much
about that except to say that I'll ask questions about that as
well. When commercial airlines fail to comply with
airworthiness directives that's a very serious problem and I
know the FAA has had to take some remedial action there.
And then the issue of next generationers, or so called
``NextGen'' changing the air traffic control system and
modernizing that system is very important because that will
improve safety. Improve safety. Save fuel. Do a lot of things.
Most people nowadays understand that you can access a
satellite somewhere above the Earth and get directions from
that in order to move your car or to find a location of your
friend with a cell phone. The problem is despite the fact that
that technology is mature and ready, it is not available in
this country, generally speaking, for the movement of
commercial airplanes. It's unbelievable to me.
We still are doing this ground-based radar navigation in
the skies when, in fact, GPS navigation would be much, much
safer. Then we would know exactly where an airplane is in the
sky. Right now we know about where that fast traveling jet is.
We know about where it is because the transponder put a
blip on the screen. And at that nanosecond, that's where that
plane was. And for the next seven or 8 seconds as the sweep
goes on that console, that airplane is somewhere else.
Well, we don't need to guess about where airplanes are in
the sky. NextGen and the modernization of the air traffic
control system to a GPS system is exactly what we need to do on
an urgent basis. And that's something that Administrator
Babbitt is very deeply involved in as well.
All of these are very important issues. Administrator
Babbitt has a lot on his plate. And we appreciate him being
here today.
I'm going to--Senator Johanns, did you want to say a word?
I'm not going to have opening statements by and large. But we
have a number of other members who will--Senators who will join
us momentarily. But I'd be glad to call on Senator Johanns if
you wish to make a comment.
Senator Johanns. Mr. Chairman, that is a very kind offer. I
concur with so many things that you said and wanted to indicate
that. But I can only be here about 45 more minutes.
So maybe it's best that I pass on the opportunity to make
an opening statement. If I have anything we'll submit it for
the record. And we can proceed to the first witness.
Senator Dorgan. Well, Senator Johanns, thank you. And
thanks for your very active participation on all of these
hearings on the issue of aviation and air safety.
Mr. Babbitt, you have only recently, that is, in the recent
months taken the reins of a very large agency. And we
appreciate that. We want to hear your comments today and then
open it for questions.
As I've indicated, we have a number of other Senators who
will be joining us shortly, but you may proceed. Your entire
statement will be a part of the permanent record, and you may
summarize.
STATEMENT OF HON. RANDOLPH BABBITT, ADMINISTRATOR,
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Babbitt. Well, thank you very much, Chairman Dorgan.
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you very much for inviting
me here to testify on behalf of the Federal Aviation
Administration to discuss the FAA's ongoing safety initiatives.
Safety is, of course, the most important mission of the agency
and the FAA professionals take this mission and their role in
it very seriously.
At the onset of this hearing, I'd like to take a moment to
acknowledge a group of family members that are attending this
hearing this morning representing the family members of
passengers who died earlier this year in the Colgan accident.
Any aviation fatality is taken very seriously by the FAA and of
course, by me personally. And while I can only imagine the
grief and the painful process that they're going through to
come to terms with their loss, we're very motivated to improve
aviation safety so that other families could be spared their
tragic experience.
I've met with the family members on more than one occasion,
personally. And I will do so again later today with Secretary
LaHood. My Associate Administrator for Safety, Peggy Gilligan
and her Deputy, John Hickey, have also met with them on a
number of occasions. And we remain in close touch with them to
ensure that they know what we're doing in the key areas about
which they've expressed concern.
One of those areas is whether all pilots flying under Part
121 regulations should be required to have an air transport
pilot certificate. The current regulations permit a first
officer today to fly under Part 121 with a commercial
certificate. The ATP certificate requires, among other things,
that a pilot have at least 1,500 hours flying experience.
But before the issue of an ATP requirement was raised by
Members of Congress and these families, I had already asked my
safety organization to start putting together an advanced
notice of proposed rulemaking to consider whether a new rating
or endorsement could be established that would require more
than what is currently required for a commercial certificate,
but would focus again, more on the actual elements required
rather than the 1,500 hours required to maintain or to obtain
an ATP. And instead focus more on discreet training and the
quality of that training to achieve the rating.
I am concerned that simply raising the quantity of hours
required without addressing the quality and the nature of the
time and the pilot experience imparted during training may not
ensure the improved proficiency that we all want. And I'd like
to identify areas where an individual pilot receives and
successfully completes training to obtain professional,
operational experience in such areas as multi-crew operations,
icing environments, and high altitude operations, just to name
a few. This option is more targeted than simply increasing the
total number of hours required which, by the way, assumes that
once that number is achieved that it would have resulted in a
comprehensive set of skills. That may not be the case.
Another area that has been the subject of much discussion
is pilot fatigue. You mentioned this has been an issue for 19
years, and I have personally championed the issue of pilot
fatigue for every one of those 19 years.
I've been deeply involved with this. And not long after I
became the Administrator, I had the FAA charter an Aviation
Rulemaking Committee, an ARC, to make a recommendation on this
issue. The ARC began meeting in July and presented their
recommendations to me in September.
While consensus was not reached on all of the issues, we
were provided a very good framework to consider many of the
issues that contribute to pilot fatigue. At the time the ARC
was chartered, I committed to an extremely aggressive time
schedule for the publishing of a proposed new rulemaking. It
turns out that may have been a little too aggressive.
I've been briefed numerous times on the areas that need
further analysis for this subject, and the analysis remains
underway. And as frustrating as it is for me that we will not
complete the analysis by our aggressive year end schedule. I've
told the team working on this rule to take the time to make
certain we do this rule right. We have one opportunity. And I
want it completed properly. But I promise you it will be
completed.
And, finally, I want to mention the incredible wealth of
information that we've received from our ``call to action''
held earlier this year. History has shown us that we are able
to implement much better safety improvements and far more
quickly and more effectively when we work together on the
problems and the solutions. I'm a firm believer in
communication. Build a consensus. But as I've said from the
beginning where consensus can't be reached, it's my job to make
the call. And I will.
We'll be issuing a report later this year to update
everyone on the information we've received, the recommendations
that were made, and how we're moving forward. And I'm confident
from this that we have built a good foundation from which to
issue guidance and possible further rulemaking.
So, Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks. I'd be
certainly willing to answer any questions that you and the
Committee members might have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Babbitt follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator,
Federal Aviation Administration
Chairman Dorgan, Ranking Member DeMint, members of the
Subcommittee:
Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the Federal
Aviation Administration's (FAA's) safety programs and ongoing
initiatives, As you know, shortly after I was confirmed as
Administrator, Secretary LaHood and I initiated a Call to Action on
airline safety and pilot training. We made this Call to Action to
encourage the aviation industry in this country to come together to
share their best practices across the board and implement actions we
know can improve safety. History has shown that we are able to
implement better safety improvements far more quickly and effectively
when we work together on problems and their solutions. We have received
a wealth of information from the Call to Action, and, as a result of
this information and our previous efforts, we are involved in a number
of projects to use that information to make the industry and traveling
public safer.
To start, we had several short-term actions that we wanted to
achieve in June and July of this year. These included:
Flight and Duty Time Rulemaking: As a result of the Call to Action,
FAA made the creation of a new flight and rest rule based on
fatigue science a high priority, with an aggressive timeline. FAA
chartered an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC), which began
meeting in July 2009. The ARC, which consisted of representatives
from FAA, industry, and labor organizations, was charged with
producing recommendations for a science-based approach to fatigue
management by September 1, 2009. I am pleased to report to you that
the ARC met its charge and that we are currently reviewing its
recommendations. Understandably, this is an extremely sensitive and
complex area and, given the short time-frame the ARC was given,
consensus was not reached on all of the issues they were asked to
consider. At the time the Call to Action was announced, I said
that, as Administrator, I would work with the aviation community to
reach consensus, and where we could not I would be willing to make
the tough decisions. I fully intend to live up to that promise.
There is some more analysis that is underway and I am committed to
getting this done right--and we will get it done. As frustrating as
it is for me that we will not complete this complex analysis by our
aggressive year-end schedule, I have told the team working on this
rule to take the time required to make sure we have done all that
is necessary to support what we ultimately propose. With this in
mind, we will continue to push to get our proposed rule on the
street as soon as possible.
Focused Inspection Initiative: Recognizing the urgency of proposals
in the Call to Action, FAA required its principal operations
inspectors for Part 121 carriers to conduct a focused program
review of air carrier flight crewmember training, qualification,
and management practices.
The focused inspection initiative had two parts. The first part of
the initiative required FAA inspectors to meet with the carrier's
director of operations, director of safety, and company officials
responsible for flight crewmember training and qualification
programs. The purpose of these meetings was to determine the
carrier's ability to identify, track, and manage low-time flight
crewmembers and those who have failed evaluation events or
demonstrated a repetitive need for additional training. Inspectors
also looked at whether the carrier adopted the suggestions in
Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) 06015 to voluntarily implement
remedial training for pilots with persistent performance
deficiencies. The meetings were to occur as soon as possible, but
no later than July 15, 2009. I am pleased to report that all of
these reviews were completed.
As a result of these meetings, our inspectors found that about two-
thirds of the carriers operating under the traditional regulatory
requirements for pilot training and checking (i.e., carriers that
do not participate in an Advanced Qualification Program) had
systems in place to identify and manage low-time flight crewmembers
and those with persistent performance problems. We strongly
encouraged carriers without such systems to establish them. For
those who will not commit to implementing these systems, we will
increase oversight to ensure their training and qualification
programs meet regulatory requirements.
The second part of the initiative has also been completed. Inspectors
conducted additional inspections to revalidate that the carrier's
training and qualification programs meet regulatory standards in
accordance with FAA guidance materials. Among other items,
inspectors confirmed that these programs:
Review the entire performance history of any pilot in
question;
Provide remedial training as necessary; and
Provide additional oversight by the certificate holder to
ensure that performance deficiencies are effectively
addressed and corrected.
Training Program Review Guidance: Using results from initial elements
of the focused inspection initiative, FAA will provide guidance
material on conducting a comprehensive training program review.
This guidance will describe the training program review in the
context of a safety management system and its role in a corporate
safety culture.
Although our original goal (as indicated in the Action Plan) was to
develop this document by July 31, we postponed development of the
Training Program Review Guidance for two reasons. First, the Action
Plan indicates that we will use the results of FAA's focused
inspection initiative in developing the material. Although FAA
inspectors completed Part I by July 15, Part II (which calls for a
more in-depth review of training) was not completed until this
fall. Second, we found that the initial July time-frame would not
allow us to benefit from suggestions and ideas developed in the
series of Call to Action safety forums held around the country in
July and August.
As noted, FAA inspectors have now completed the second part of the
focused inspection initiative. We are currently analyzing this
information, along with ideas gathered from the regional safety
forums. We expect to complete our data evaluation by December 31.
We will then develop guidance documents, including both a Notice to
Inspectors and a SAFO. Our goal is to have both documents ready for
internal coordination by the end of February.
Obtain Air Carriers' Commitment to Most Effective Practices: To
solidify oral commitments made at the Call to Action, I sent a
letter to all Part 121 operators and their unions and requested
written commitments to adhere to the highest professional
standards, with specific commitments on the following key topics:
Pilot Records: While Congress is working to amend the
Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996 and the FAA amends
Advisory Circular 120-68D, I asked that air carriers
immediately implement a policy of asking pilot applicants
for voluntary disclosure of FAA records, including notices
of disapproval for evaluation events.
FOQA and ASAP: I asked that air carriers who have not done
so, establish flight operations quality assurance (FOQA)
and Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) programs and
develop data analysis processes to ensure effective use of
this information.
I can tell you that the responses indicated that carriers have
overwhelmingly shown a willingness to make the commitments I
requested. The responses we received cover 99 percent of the
aircraft operating under a Part 121 certificate, so I am pleased to
have gotten such a comprehensive commitment.
Labor Organizations: I asked labor organizations for their commitment
in the following areas:
Establish and support professional standards and ethics
committees to develop peer audit and review procedures, and
to elevate ethics and professional standards.
Establish and publish a code of ethics that includes
expectations for professional behavior, standards of
conduct for professional appearance, and overall fitness to
fly.
Support periodic safety risk management meetings between
FAA and mainline and regional carriers to promote the most
effective practices, including periodic analysis of FOQA
and ASAP data with an emphasis on identifying enhancements
to the training program.
I contacted seven labor organizations, all of which responded
positively and each of which is tracking their individual efforts
in accordance with their organizational structure. FAA's authority
does not extend to compelling the actions of labor organizations,
but we are tracking their efforts and will describe them in the
report issued at the end of the year, as discussed below.
Mentoring: To address issues in the professional standards and flight
discipline area, FAA developed and sought industry comments on the
prospect of creating a range of mentoring programs. There is no
question in my mind that this is a critical area. I am very much in
favor of mentoring, but there is no question that it is also one of
the most challenging concepts to address. We found this to be true
during the discussions held at Call to Action safety forums around
the country. Still, these discussions have produced some
interesting and promising ideas. For example:
Establishing Joint Strategic Councils within a ``family''
of carriers (mainline and regional partner(s)). This
approach could lead to individual as well as corporate
mentoring relationships.
Using Professional Standards Committee Safety Conferences
to provide opportunities for two-way mentoring--a very good
reminder that good ideas are not unique to larger mainline
carriers.
Exploring mentoring possibilities between air carriers and
university aviation programs.
We encouraged carriers to meet with their partner airlines to discuss
what mentoring options were best suited to their operations and
seniority structure. I understand that most major carriers have
done this and I am appreciative of their efforts. While there are
challenges associated with making mentoring a routine part of
training standards, I am committed to keep working in this area for
the long term.
Regional Safety Forums: Beginning in July, FAA conducted a series of
regional safety forums to discuss the Call to Action initiatives,
listen to stakeholder comments, and seek ideas for and commitments
to additional actions in the areas in which FAA is already taking
specific action. It was very important that the Call to Action
effort be a comprehensive outreach for information and input and
not from only those individuals or entities that could make it to
Washington in June. By the end of August, FAA held 12 well-attended
forums in the following locations:
July 21 Washington, D.C.
July 30 Dallas/Fort Worth
July 30 Chicago
August 4 Seattle
August 6 Minneapolis/St. Paul
August 6 Atlanta
August 6 Anchorage
August 20 Miami/Fort Lauderdale
August 20 Denver
August 21 St. Louis
August 27 Las Vegas
August 27 Boston
The Call to Action also included several intermediate term actions,
intended for completion in the August-December 2009 timeframe. These
include:
Crew Training Requirements: At the time we initiated the Call to
Action, the FAA already had an NPRM open for comment, intended to
enhance traditional training programs for crewmembers and
dispatchers by requiring the use of flight simulation training
devices for flight crewmembers, and including additional training
requirements in areas critical to safety. The public comment period
closed on August 10, with over 3,000 pages of comments. After
careful review of these comments, FAA will issue a supplementary
proposal to incorporate some of the views provided and offer the
public another opportunity for input on the revised document. The
final rule will be consistent with the philosophy of enhancing the
quality and effectiveness of training rather than focusing on
traditional quantitative measures such as total flight time.
One of the things that the Call to Action has also shone a light on
is the issue of varying pilot experience. We do not believe that
simply raising quantity--the total number of hours of flying time
or experience--without regard to the quality and nature of that
time and experience--is an appropriate method by which to improve a
pilot's proficiency in commercial operations. We are also
considering other options. For example, a newly-certificated
commercial pilot with the minimum number of hours might be limited
to certain activities until he or she could accumulate the type of
experience deemed potentially necessary to serve as a first officer
for an air carrier. We are looking at ways to enhance the existing
process for pilot certification to identify discrete areas where an
individual pilot receives and successfully completes training, thus
establishing operational experience in areas such as the multi-
pilot environment, exposure to icing, high altitude operations and
other areas common to commercial air carrier operations. We view
this option as being more targeted than merely increasing the
number of total flight hours required because it will be obvious to
the carrier what skills an individual pilot has, rather than
relying on an assumption that a certain number of hours has
resulted in a comprehensive set of skills.
Guidance to Inspectors on Safety Oversight: Consistent with the
report of the Independent Review Team on Managing Risks in Civil
Aviation, on which I served, FAA's Aviation Safety organization
included scenario-based training in safety oversight as part of the
August All-Managers Conference. This training was intended to
address issues raised in the report, including:
Management of varying regulatory interpretation styles
within the inspection work force;
Methods for harmonizing extremes in regulatory
application; and,
Methods for optimizing the regulatory effectiveness and
coherence across a diverse team of inspectors.
Final Report: By December 31, FAA will finalize a report summarizing
our findings and recommending additional action items based on the
Call to Action meeting, regional safety forums, results of the
focused inspection initiative, and other actions. The report will
include performance metrics for auditing and assessing progress.
While these are the steps we have accomplished and the upcoming
actions we will be taking, I want to point out the biggest factor
affecting safety: professionalism in the workplace. Safety begins at
the top, but whether one has a wrench in his or her hand, sits at a
yoke or carries a clipboard, wears a headset or works in the galley,
safety is everyone's responsibility. In spite of this, we have not seen
the required level of professionalism consistently from the aviation
industry across the board. Although professionalism prevails in the
vast majority of the aviation work force, it is not uniform throughout
the industry. The standards are the same, the training is the same, but
the mentality is not the same, and this is what we have to change.
One aspect of professionalism that needs further review is the
professional responsibility of pilots to report for duty ready to fly.
Recent incidents have reinforced this concern. Of special interest is
the challenge for those who commute from one city to their work
domicile in another. The effect commuting has on fatigue for crew
members requires further analysis. I know from last week's hearing that
this is an issue of great interest to this Subcommittee. But I want to
emphasize as we consider options on fatigue, reporting to work fit for
duty is far more complex than drawing a circle around a hub and stating
that the pilot must live within that area. This is where
professionalism--taking responsibility for showing up fit for duty--has
to govern.
Please understand, I recognize the interest in and concern about
commuting. But given the complexities and vested interests inherent in
this issue, the ARC did not reach a consensus recommendation.
Consequently in the interest of not delaying issuing the broader
fatigue proposal, we will request additional comments and
recommendations to consider whether added restrictions in this area
would further enhance safety.
It is essential that those who have captured the essence of the
professionalism have opportunities in and out of the cockpit to pass it
on. Experience is a wonderful teacher, and there is no substitute for
learning at the hands of someone who has already been there. The
inexperienced people in the system need to meet the ones who have been
around the block. They need to seek them out and mine whatever golden
nuggets they have. That is one of the main reasons I think we need to
see more mentoring throughout the industry.
I also think that we need to see greater use of the tools at hand
like safety management systems across the board. It is often difficult
to spot a trend with a slope that has only three data points on it.
Safety management systems can help us plot more points and produce
better information to help us make the right safety decisions.
When people know that they can raise their hand and say, ``Hey, I
think there's a problem here,'' it is then, and only then, that we are
able to move forward in safety. If you have a situation where someone
raises a hand and then is punished for doing so, all you have done is
encourage silence. When you make silence the rule, when sweeping issues
under the rug becomes the status quo, you have a recipe for disaster.
Unfortunately, we also need to recognize a basic truth here: we
cannot regulate professionalism. No matter how many rules, regulations,
advisories, mandatory training sessions, voluntary training sessions,
it still comes down to the individual--the individual pilot, mechanic,
technician, flight attendant or controller.
In conclusion, I want to say that while the Call to Action
initiatives have been a major focus for me since joining the safety
professionals at the FAA, their impressive work has been ongoing for
years. Their work has resulted in eliminating fuel tank flammability,
virtually eliminating commercial icing accidents, and drastically
reducing the number of general aviation accidents in the state of
Alaska, among many other things. Safety is at the core of FAA's mission
and we will always strive to make a safe system safer. Mr. Chairman,
Senator DeMint, members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared
remarks. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Babbitt, thank you very much. Senator
Rockefeller, you have just arrived. And did you want to make
any opening comments or would you like to begin questioning?
I'd be happy to defer.
The Chairman. I'll put my statement in the record.
[The information referred to follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV,
U.S. Senator from West Virginia
In discussions about aviation safety, it is often cited that the
United States has the safest airline industry in the world. That fact
is statistically correct--numbers do not lie. But sometimes they do not
tell the whole truth. And, this fact offers no comfort to families of
the victims of airline accidents.
Numbers alone do not reassure me that our Nation's aviation system
is as safe as it could be.
Nor, do I believe, after the series of safety lapses we have seen
over the last year, that statistics alone will reassure the millions of
Americans who take to the skies everyday.
During this holiday season millions will fly far and wide to spend
time with family and friends. The last thing they should be worrying
about is their own safety.
Over the last several months, the issue of pilot training and
fatigue has dominated the safety discussion--and rightly so. They are
important issues that need the FAA's and industry's immediate
attention.
I believe that revisions to flight time and duty limitations are
long overdue. There is simply no excuse for past failures in this area.
Frankly, it is embarrassing, and I expect the FAA to make progress on
it in the near future.
Mr. Babbitt, when we first met, I told you that you have one of the
hardest jobs in Washington. After your first year on the job, I believe
you would agree with me.
I know that you are committed to continuously improving the safety
of our Nation's aviation system, and, just as importantly, changing the
way the FAA addresses safety issues. I am pleased that under your
leadership the FAA is being proactive, not reactive, when it comes to
safety.
As you know, safety issues cannot be addressed in isolation. They
are woven into every aspect of the agency's mission from aircraft
certification, to air traffic control, and airport development.
Just as the agency is rightly focused on pilot issues, it must also
remain as vigilant on other safety priorities--the oversight of
airlines, reducing runway incursions, and air traffic controller
staffing issues. I am pleased that the FAA is making progress in each
of these areas.
But, as I have said, having the safest system in the world does not
mean it is safe enough.
We are reminded far too often about the fragility of our aviation
system--a system dependent on antiquated technology and human factors
we still don't fully understood.
Over the last several years, modernizing our Nation's air traffic
control system has been a priority for me and the Members of the
Committee.
The benefits of modernization are often described in terms of
economic efficiency. There is no question that is true, but the
strongest case for modernization is that it will make our system safer.
The Next Generation Air Traffic Control System has clear
technological benefits including more precise flight paths and greater
situational awareness for pilots.
That is why it is even more critical that the Senate move on a FAA
Reauthorization bill early next year.
Safety is clearly the top priority for everyone in aviation. I know
the FAA and the industry take the proper action 99 percent of the time
when it comes to safety. But, that is not good enough. As we know all
too well, the margins for error in aviation are far too small. It is
that 1 percent that can lead to tragedy.
At the moment, our aviation system is fragile. We all need to work
together to make sure we maintain it, strengthen it, and sustain it as
the world's finest.
I look forward to working with you to achieve that goal.
The Chairman. I want to say to Randy Babbitt that I'm
feeling very guilty because you called me a couple times. I've
been lost in something called the deepest weeds bog of
healthcare, nonstop. And I want to apologize to you because I
think you're doing a terrific job.
Mr. Babbitt. Thank you, Senator.
The Chairman. And so will you accept my apology?
Mr. Babbitt. Absolutely.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. OK.
Mr. Babbitt. Absolutely.
The Chairman. And Mr. Chairman, I'll defer to you on
questions. And I'll take my place in the regular order.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Rockefeller, thank you very much.
Let me begin asking about the issue of fatigue since you
commented on it. You formed an ARC and they met July to
September. And you now have some recommendations, but further
analysis needs to be done, you say.
Both the recommendations and further analysis that are
underway, will they relate in any way to the issue of commuting
or is commuting outside of the range of vision on this
particular rulemaking? And if so, why?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir. The ARC addressed this within their
comments for a proposed rule. They were briefed on the issue.
The parties involved in that ARC did not come up with any
conclusions. They instead said that commuting was an issue they
felt was outside of the boundaries of what they were looking at
in terms of a fatigue rule.
When we issue the NPRM, I do plan to put observations about
commuting into the proposed rule which will be available for
comment. I think everybody appreciates, you know, some of the
issues here. And I think for the record and for your
understanding, you should or perhaps I could explain a little
bit.
My focus here is on fatigue. And my focus is on making
certain that when a pilot shows up and takes the responsibility
to carry 2 passengers or 200 or 250 passengers, they accept
that responsibility. They have an obligation to show up fit,
both physically and psychologically to undertake the mission
they've got.
So, it's more of a concern to me that we ensure that they
not show up fatigued, not the reason that they became fatigued.
Again, I'm more concerned that they show up not fatigued.
People can be fatigued for a lot of reasons--the 2 o'clock
phone call that takes a child to the hospital; the decision to
play an extra 18 holes of golf before work.
But we're depending, we have for years, upon professional
responsibility. And we have tried very hard. I've used, to the
extent I have, the bully pulpit. I have pushed the
professionalism issue with some degree of success.
We have reminded people that not only does the pilot have a
professional responsibility, the carrier also has a
responsibility. It's a shared responsibility that they not put
people to work who aren't fit to work. That I think some of the
awareness and the bright light that we put on this issue
recently has shown us some benefits.
We had a very unfortunate incident not too long ago, an
embarrassing incident in the profession where a pilot was
observed by others in the crew to not be fit for flight and the
pilot was removed. So the system does in fact work. We need to
keep emphasizing it. And as I said, I expect observations
regarding commuting to be in the NPRM which will be available
for comment.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Babbitt, you made a comment. Let me
comment on what you said at the start of your statement. There
are a number of people who I see in the room who are family
members of the victims of the Colgan air crash.
And I'm convinced that when all the dust settles on all of
this that their activities, relentless activities, on behalf of
the memories of their loved ones, will end up saving lives.
Because they are relentless in trying to make certain that
nobody gets on an airplane in the future with a pilot and a co-
pilot that apparently haven't trained in the stick pusher or
one of whom hasn't flown in icing. Both of whom have traveled a
far part across the country in order to get to the duty
station. Neither of whom have been in a motel room to rest for
the evening following all-night flights. I mean, I'm convinced
that their relentless push of us and of you is going to make a
difference.
And so with that as a precursor, it just seems to me that
the notion of saying we expect everybody to be professional is
not obviously just the answer. The question is if you now have
a system in which fatigue clearly plays a significant role. And
training plays a significant role. How do you fix that system
in a way that at the end of the day leads you to believe that
you have better trained crews in the cockpit, better rested
crews in the cockpit? I mean, that's the key for me.
But I have a lot of questions about--well let me just ask
one more. Then I'll--questions about NextGen and so on we want
to cover before you leave. But we--it seems to me you must look
at the totality of all the issues facing these pilots and the
crews of these commercial airliners.
You said that you don't know whether--let me say it
differently. You indicated that for you the question of an ATP
certificate is not the number of hours that you have, that it's
what kind of training have you had. But if that's a qualitative
judgment, and it is, then how are you going to describe that in
terms of what someone is going to hire out there? We had all
these discussions a week or so ago about how many hours it
would take to get on with an airliner 10 years ago and how many
hours it takes nowadays to go find a job and a commute. Very,
very different.
So tell me how you would measure this qualitatively?
Mr. Babbitt. Well, what we expect to explore in our advance
notice would be an endorsement. We use this process today. For
example, someone with a commercial pilot's license who would
like to fly an aircraft capable of operating at very high
altitudes, we have a number of airplanes today that can operate
25,000 or 30,000 feet pressurized.
A commercial license gives you absolutely no insight into
that environment. So you have to obtain an endorsement and have
some very specific and tailored training just to operate in
that environment.
Recognizing hypoxia.
Recognizing what effects the thin air has on the wing.
The engine performance.
The narrowing of the flight envelope.
The stall in the maximum speed become closer and closer in
thin air.
All of this is training for high altitude operations.
I'm suggesting that as a first step that we take a
commercial pilot and say, if you want to work for a 121
operation, you need more experience. You need to demonstrate to
us that you have had multi-crew training. You have operated it
with cockpit resource management. You have had exposure to ice
training. You have had exposure to high altitude operations,
and jet engine operations. All of these things would be
elements toward an endorsement.
I would further say I'm not so convinced that the ATP that
we have today gives us the elements that we need, as I have
testified here and I've testified in the House.
I actually was on the flight that landed behind Air
Florida. Eastern Airlines, flight 1482 was the aircraft that
landed behind the aircraft that took off. That airplane had
qualified pilots, very well trained. Both of them had ATPs. The
first officer had never seen an airplane deiced. Now that's
wrong. That pilot was not trained for the mission.
And what we're saying now is that we want to ensure that
every pilot has seen every possible scenario that's going to be
presented to them. The fact that they have 1,500 hours, or
2,500 hours, doesn't give me the comfort that we've achieved
that training. I'd much rather have somebody with 1,000 hours
that had been exposed to simulated scenarios. We have the
capability today with high fidelity simulations to expose
pilots to every potential environment.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Babbitt, could a pilot be hired today
and be in a cockpit today similar to the Air Florida flight
that had not seen de-icing previously?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan. And how is it after 30 years that nothing
has changed?
Mr. Babbitt. Well, that's a question that I've had 6 months
to work on so far. But that's one of the reasons I----
Senator Dorgan. But isn't that unbelievable to me? I mean,
it's just unbelievable to me that, you know, a commercial
license might give you the right to fly a Cessna 210 and use a
pressurized aircraft and use a flashlight to see how much dry
ice is on your wing at night. But that doesn't give you the
capabilities, it seems to me, to get in the cockpit of a
commercial airliner and fly 150 people around.
Mr. Babbitt. You're absolutely correct. And I can use
myself. I mean, I was hired with a commercial license. I didn't
have any ATP.
But I flew co-pilot for 10 years. And so I gained that
experience. I was mentored. And I think we depended upon a
system that took a significant amount of time.
What we have seen more recently, in cases where you have
rapid expansion in carriers, is that suddenly you've got
somebody in the left seat with 3 years and somebody in the
right seat with 1 year. And that's where the system begins to
show its weakness.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Rockefeller? And then I'll call on
Senator Johanns.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Babbitt, you have this, your ``call to action.'' And
your ``call to action'' is very important because it seeks
again I'm getting a little bit of Senator Dorgan's idea of
these things ought to happen as opposed to these things are
going to happen. And in your ``call to action'' you're asking
for voluntary, you know, commitments from air carriers to
implement flight operations, quality assurance, aviation
safety, and action of all of these things.
So some of these voluntary commitments are also sought from
labor unions to establish professional standards, peer audits,
review procedures, etcetera. I want you to know that our FAA
bill includes that all of these will be mandated. OK? So, it's
not a question of discussion anymore.
But I'm sort of interested in how you were doing on this
because the airlines are in trouble, because big airlines,
little airlines, general aviation. Everybody is in trouble. The
word, voluntary, do the best you can becomes a way of not
crushing them economically. On the other hand, when it comes to
passenger safety, you can't worry about that.
You know if Amtrak went broke because we were enforcing
upon them safety standards or you know, any airline because
we're enforcing on them standards which are in the public
interest which kept passengers safe, we would happily do that
because that's our job. That's our job. Their job is to try to
make it in the bad economy. And that's very hard. But we can't
shy away from our responsibilities.
So how do you, sort of, size up your ``call to action?''
And how are your voluntary commitments being received?
Mr. Babbitt. Right, sir. The ``Call to Action'' was fairly
robust. It called for a number of things and I think we found
one action item in particular to be pretty effective. And what
I asked the carriers to do was to advise us of everyone who had
any of these safety programs that are out there. But I also put
them on notice that I intended to call them out. I told the
carriers that they had by the end of September to advise me
whether or not you had done this and that I would publish the
list of those who hadn't. And we did.
It is remarkable the increase in participation that we got
between the end of September and the end of October. We had a
good number that responded, and said, yes, we're doing this.
But we had a good number who didn't and we put them up on
our website. We let people know these are carriers that chose
not to do what we asked.
And I'm pleased to say that of the 98 carriers we've had
positive responses from 80 who are now engaged in all of these
programs. They either have them in force or because of the
mechanics required, for example, the FOQA program requires some
technology which they are adapting. We are monitoring those.
We shouldn't consider some of those carriers that are very
small. And we actually should excuse a few of them. For
example, if you only have two airplanes, you know. FOQA doesn't
do anything for you.
The Chairman. Right.
Mr. Babbitt. But I've been very happy the unions, by the
way, responded 100 percent.
The Chairman. Good. I just say as a matter of my own
personal philosophy that it's a tricky balance. But in the end
it isn't between when we're on really hard economic times.
I mean, you know, there's a question here I have about
people traveling on Christmas vacation. Well, in fact, they're
going to be doing a lot less traveling this year. We know that.
But that's because of bad economic conditions.
But there are certain things involving public safety where
you cannot compromise on safety. You just can't do it. We can't
do it. You can't do it.
And previous people might not have been as strong as you
are. We can't let them do it for the sake of keeping harmony or
something or open relationships. We have to bring the hammer
down. Make sure the consumers come first. That's the philosophy
of this Committee. Consumers come first.
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. That's the new philosophy of this Committee,
but it is the philosophy.
One quick follow-up on the NextGen which has been driving
me crazy for a number of years that we can't get it done. And
that we are still behind Mongolia with respect to, you know,
GPS and all the rest of it. That's only because they're
building their first system. But nevertheless it makes the
point.
And it's going to be great for air traffic controllers and
for pilots because they'll be able to tell how far they are
away from each other. People will be able to land more
frequently because they'll have virtual vision. What will be
the effect on passengers in terms of safety if we have a
NextGen system in place?
Mr. Babbitt. Well better spacing, clearly, and more
reliable, up-to-date, information on the aircraft positioning.
Senator Dorgan mentioned some of the pieces that will be there.
I think there are a lot of ancillary benefits we talk about as
well. Not only safety in the aircraft, but also safety in the
environment, a lot less carbon emissions, and a lot less noise
for environmental impact. All of those come into it.
But the fact that the situational awareness of a pilot is
much enhanced and the situational awareness for a controller is
much enhanced, is going to be a huge benefit. I'm really
pleased that we're beginning to see some pretty rapid
acceleration of deployment.
We now have initial operating capability in Louisville
where we're actually using ADS-B. The controller can see all
the ADS-B aircrafts just like he can see radar. We're actually
on a trial basis now using ADS-B in the Gulf.
What does that mean? 10,000 people a day move back and
forth off of oil rigs. There are almost 4,000 oil rigs out
there. We move 10,000 people a day on and off them in
helicopters without radar.
Well, now we can see those aircrafts. They can see each
other. They can navigate better. These are all benefits to
every one of those people on the helicopters in terms of the
separation and their safety. So all in all, the benefits are
enormous for all involved.
The Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one final 30 second answer. Why
don't we have that system in place now? Why have we been
talking about it for so long? Why has everybody been willing to
step up to the plate until they find out that it might cost
them some more money?
You know, the President gave a great speech at Oslo this
morning. He talked about the responsibility of all countries to
do all kinds of things. And you know, we don't--we can't get it
done. What's your theory of that?
Mr. Babbitt. Well, I think part of it is probably our own
fault. I don't know that we ever really explained or made
available the understanding of the savings that were available.
We didn't make the business case, if you would, that you could
save an enormous amount of money.
I can make a very good business case today. I can show you
that the commercial airlines in this country will save a
billion gallons of fuel a year. At only two dollars-a-gallon,
that's pretty easy to compute. That's two billion in savings.
The system only costs six billion. Anybody in the business
sense would say this is a great deal. I should have one of
these. So we need to do a better job on the business case.
I also think there is another side of it. There is a
tipping point for equipage until some mass of people actually
has the equipment, the airports don't benefit, and the traffic
doesn't benefit from it. I've used the analogy of the HD, the
cable operator, if you wanted me to buy the box. I'll buy the
box when you have enough channels and you say well, I'll put
enough channels on when enough of you buy the boxes.
So, I think we've finally come to the point where we say,
look, we need to do this. You need to put the channels on. We
need to buy the boxes.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Rockefeller, thank you very much.
As a courtesy, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Senator
DeMint, did not make a statement. Did you have something to say
at the front of this?
STATEMENT OF HON. JIM DeMINT,
U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA
Senator DeMint. Senator Dorgan, thank you. Thank you for
your persistence on safety.
Again, thank you and Senator Rockefeller as well as our
Ranking Member. The thing I'm just listening for today is how
do we push this over the hump and get this done?
I know we've got legislation in place. But the fact is, no
matter what we try to legislate we're not the experts. Some may
be pilots, but certainly not to the degree we're talking about
here and the need for the industry to try to come up with these
standards working with you so that they fit with the
legislation we're writing.
I don't want a political solution to a safety issue. At the
same time we don't want to wait decades longer to get safety
standards from the industry. Just your perspective,
Administrator Babbitt, and I do appreciate all you've done
since you've come into office. What we're trying to do is just
push this to the end. And the big part of it needs to come from
your side, from the carrier side, from the pilot side.
Mr. Babbitt. Well, I appreciate that very much. I pushed a
lot of these. I actually have the benefit of probably being the
loudest and most vocal advocate of one level of safety back in
the 1990s. So I appreciate, you know, what some of these take.
I also appreciate the concern about something being
voluntary, but I also have learned what it takes to now create
a regulation. And so what I have done is to ask people to do
these things on a voluntary basis until we can get to the point
of moving them into legislation.
We're working with Congress. And I appreciate the help
we're getting. Some of these, information, for example, if it
were in our hands would be discoverable and therefore people
would be reluctant to give it to us. Left in the hands of the
carriers, it's not.
We're working, you know, with all of the Committees in both
Houses to find ways that we can immunize this information so
that the people will continue to willingly give it.
Senator DeMint. The key here is if you can become the best
practice headquarters where you can pull these voluntary
standards, these creative new ideas to make things safer and
you create the critical mass. But as you said, they're not
going to do that if it creates some form of liability or public
exposure. So, maybe that's something we can do to make sure
that anonymously or otherwise that these ideas are sent to you.
And you can continue to give us those from the ground ideas of
what we really need to do to make things safer.
Mr. Babbitt. Well I would just add one point. We're here
today forensically looking back at a very tragic accident.
I want to find the data before the accident. I want to find
ways to get the information to us so that we can predict the
accident so we don't ever have hearings like this. Rather, you
can be talking to me about budget issues or something, not
about tragedies that happened.
And information is going to take us through that gate.
Senator DeMint. Right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Johanns?
STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE JOHANNS,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Johanns. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me, if I might, Mr. Babbitt, in the short time I have,
focus on four really important things.
I want to talk to you about this commuting issue.
I want to talk to you about pilot experience and salaries
for pilots.
And then probably as important as all of those is
equipment.
Help me understand commuting. Let's say I'm a pilot. I live
in San Diego. But the flight that I am going to fly originates
in New York City. And I commute back and forth between San
Diego and New York City.
That flight from San Diego to New York City that I make
every week to get on the flight that I would fly, how is that
factored into safety regulations or is it? Is it just not
counted?
Mr. Babbitt. No, it currently is not counted. And
commuting, while I don't think that the majority of pilots
commute, it's difficult. Pilots in the traditional times would
commute based on some short-term event.
In other words, maybe a new piece of equipment was offered
in another domicile. They would bid that domicile, but didn't
want to move children out of school. So they would commute
within their own system.
But I think if you look at commuting now you're still going
to find that the vast majority of it is limited to commuting on
their own system. So, for example, Colgan had two bases. They
had a base in Virginia and they had a base in New Jersey. So,
if someone took an assignment up in Newark then they would
commute on their own airline or, you know, there are a variety
of ways to do that.
Longer distance commuting is something a little different.
But no, it does not count. And pilots, we have depended on
professionalism.
I commuted. I commuted myself for 5 years. I commuted to
New York to fly Captain. It was available up there. It wasn't
available here. I wanted to----
Senator Johanns. You know I'm not questioning anybody's
professionalism. I understand the issue of living away from
home. All of us do that here.
But I would tell you flying back and forth, even halfway
across the country every week is hard work. It's tiring. It's
exhausting. You start the week you feel like you haven't had a
break.
Just in our own experience, and I'm not flying the
airplane. You know, I'm sitting in back catching a cat nap.
That can't be a good thing.
And I appreciate what I'm suggesting here probably turns
the system upside down. But if you show up tired, you can't fix
that until you get some rest.
Mr. Babbitt. That's correct. And the rule as it's stated
today--and perhaps what's being suggested is that it is
insufficient but the rule today says that you won't show up
tired, that you have an obligation, a professional
responsibility, as does the carrier, to make certain that
you're fit.
Senator Johanns. But we don't police that, do we?
Mr. Babbitt. I'm sorry?
Senator Johanns. We don't police that. I mean nobody is
standing there saying did you fly through the night to get
here?
Mr. Babbitt. No, they don't.
Senator Johanns. OK. Now let me ask you a little bit about
experience. I always assumed that the pilot and co-pilot were
equally capable of taking over and flying that airplane. I
always thought that that was the safety valve I had.
I'm beginning to question whether that assumption was
correct. I'm beginning to wonder whether co-pilot is training
ground. And that the co-pilot is there, hopefully, to someday
get to a point where they can be the pilot.
Is that a more accurate read of this than what I thought
before?
Mr. Babbitt. Both pilots are very well qualified. They go
through the same basic training procedures. But, the captain
has some more stringent requirements in his training,
regardless of whether the co-pilot has an Air Transport Pilot
Rating or not. The co-pilot simply doesn't have to demonstrate
some of the maneuvers that a captain has to demonstrate.
And along with that the co-pilot also can't perform some of
the functions in certain weather conditions. There are more
restrictions on what his capabilities are recognizing that
everybody has to start somewhere. I mean, you know, utopia
would be that every pilot in every airplane had flown captain
for 5 years. But that can't happen.
So, we do have restraints in place. We say that when a
first officer is new, he can't fly with a new captain.
First he flies with a check pilot, who is trained to watch
him. For the first 100 hours he flies, he's with a very
experienced pilot.
Next he can fly with someone other than a check pilot, but
he can't be an inexperienced line captain. He has to also have
a significant amount of time as a line operating pilot in order
to have a new co-pilot. So months go by while this new co-pilot
gets some exposure.
So, there are some protections in there. But the reality
is, it's simply impossible that everybody could come in
qualified as a captain with experience in their pocket already.
Everybody has to start somewhere.
And the way we protect that is by restricting some of the
things we allow them to do as first officer with not enough
demonstrated experience.
Senator Johanns. Is the training ground or level of
experience different if I'm flying from Scotts Bluff to Laramie
than if I'm flying from New York to San Diego?
Mr. Babbitt. No, sir. However, some routes actually
require, for example, high altitude airports, or airports in
foreign countries that have unusual approach procedures, some
special training. But other than that, you're completely
qualified to operate the aircraft anywhere in the system.
Senator Johanns. Let me ask a quick question, if I could,
about--and I'm going to pass by salary, although that worries
me. I just want to say, though, I think somebody who is making
as low of a salary as some do working far smaller carriers is
of concern. I don't know how they're supporting their family
and maybe it's not our role to get in the middle of that. But
if it impacts safety, it's our responsibility.
But I want to get to equipment. When I was Governor, we had
a state plane. And I'll never forget the first day the pilot
turned back to me and said, ``I'm turning on the de-icing.''
And I looked out at the wing--and could see some ice building
up.
Then I saw this balloon expand. And I thought to myself,
wow, that's it? Tell me about the Buffalo flight and the kind
of equipment that they were using.
And I just want your honest assessment about how good that
equipment is in a flight pattern that's going to deal with
icing issues on a regular basis.
Mr. Babbitt. Well, we just issued a very, very exhaustive
icing rule, again recognizing the time it takes to put one of
these rules out. However, we took emergency action on over 100
air-worthiness directives to make people and specific pieces of
equipment follow new criteria in areas ranging from how the
equipment worked to the instruction and the recognition by
pilots of when they're beginning to ice. So those were very
important steps.
That airplane was completely compliant. While this
investigation is not complete, I don't believe that it's going
to find and I don't want to prejudice an NTSB investigation.
I'm not going to comment on that. But I don't believe icing was
a causal factor here. The causal factor was the failure to
recognize a very fundamental stall warning and the fundamental
inaction or improper response to a very basic warning that the
crew had been well trained for and simply didn't follow the
procedures.
Senator Johanns. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you very much, Senator Johanns.
Senator Begich?
STATEMENT OF HON. MARK BEGICH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Begich. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And
thank you, Mr. Babbitt, for being here. I appreciate it.
As usual I try to attend these when you're here because I
always have some parochial issues, but some broader sweeps. But
first I want to do a couple, if I can, a couple of comments on
Alaska issues which obviously I view this hearing not only an
update on fatigue and others, but a general kind of update on
your survival for 6 months so far.
And the first one is in Alaska, you know, our flights
service stations in Alaska are not contracted out. We're the
only one that's not contracted out. All the rest are contracted
out services.
And of course, we appreciate that. We think they do a great
job. Our concern and my concern is that there are vacancies
occurring. Training is not occurring to replace those people.
And what I'm starting to hear is that folks are concerned
that it's basically FAA's letting it kind of peter out so then
they can have an excuse to contract out. And that concerns me.
And I will only tell you from a personal experience as someone
who has to fly a lot in Alaska, most recently on a regional,
small, very small eight seater, coming out of a small town back
to Anchorage International which very rarely, I cannot recall
other than volcanic ash that closed it down for a period of
time.
We were circling multiple times because the fog was so
thick which I had never seen. Since I was born and raised
there, I had never seen it this thick. And of course, you know,
the stations were doing what they were doing, giving us the
right information.
And we were also getting a little concerned about fuel
because there wasn't intent to go further than where we were
headed. We did end up cutting through the fog individually,
based on the service center's recommendation on where to land
at a different airport. The poor person that was with me from
Washington, D.C. who had never been in a small plane, had an
experience of their lifetime.
But those service centers are critical. And the people that
run those, we greatly appreciate. I don't want to discount what
goes on in the lower 48, but what we've done in Alaska, I
think, has been a very good job.
We have capacity to train these folks in Alaska. But the
concern is that they are not filling the vacancies. With the
rumor mill ripe with this is how they're going to contract it
out.
So I want to make it very clear. We are not interested in
contracting. And I'd like to get from you at a point, you don't
have to do it now.
But at a point when you can give me an update on what's
happening there. And what the vacancy levels are. What the
plans for training is and what the rollover rate is.
Those are critical people for air conditions or conditions
in Alaska. And my experience was about a month and a half ago.
And it reassures me the quality of people we have working
there.
So if you could?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir. You have a very high quality team up
there. That's a unique environment. Let me assure you that
we're looking at this.
We recently had a new Federal ruling that allows us to do
two things.
One, we can continue people who would otherwise be at
retirement, if they'd like to stay, they may. We can even go
back and people who thought they wanted to retire and then
realized later, gee whiz, I actually would rather be working
again. This new Federal rule allows us to go back to an
annuitant which was previously prohibited. We can now re-engage
them.
I don't have the full details. But I will get back with you
and your office to make sure that we have the staffing levels
that are required up there.
[The information referred to follows:]
The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for the
operations and staffing of the 17 flight service stations (FSS) in
Alaska. These consist of parent facilities in Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai,
and Palmer with 13 satellite facilities elsewhere across the State. As
of December 11, 2009, we have 192 full-time personnel supporting these
facilities with 3 vacancies.
Fairbanks (includes Barrow and Northway)
Onboard--46
Vacancy--1
Kenai (includes Cold Bay, Dillingham, Homer, Iliamna, and McGrath)
Onboard--68
Vacancy--1 (non-FSS specialist)
Palmer (includes Nome, Kotzebue, Deadhorse and Talkeetna)
Onboard--26
Vacancy--0
Juneau (includes Sitka and Ketchikan)
Onboard--38
Vacancy--1
Regional Office Administration
Onboard--14
Vacancy--0
Maintaining the necessary numbers and experience levels for our
Alaskan FSS workforce is a top priority of the FAA. Presently, despite
only having three vacancies, we have a growing number of individuals
who are either at or nearing retirement eligibility. As of today, 97 of
the current 192 employees were eligible to retire. This number will
increase by 9 in calendar year (CY) 2010, 11 in CY 2011 and 10 in CY
2012. A recent survey of retirement-eligible employees showed that 13
of the 97 are likely to retire before June 2010.
Flight service station personnel are classified as air traffic
control specialists and, as such, they may not perform air traffic-
related functions beyond age 56. Currently, however, this requirement
can be waived at the discretion of the Administrator. The FAA FSS
program office has and will continue to consider this option for those
FSS specialists who desire to continue their FSS duties beyond age 56.
Training of future FSS specialists has changed since Lockheed
Martin took responsibility for delivery of FSS products in all states
but Alaska. Rather than training a limited number of FSS specialists at
the FAA Academy at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma, the FAA will be providing training for Alaska
specialists at our facility in Kenai. We are finalizing the updated,
localized curriculum for a class that will commence in early 2010.
Employment bids for both in-state and out-of-state candidates to
populate this and future classes will be released within the next
several weeks. Once candidates are selected and their initial training
is complete, they will be assigned to a principal duty station where
on-the-job and local area knowledge training will occur. It is
anticipated each applicant will take from 12 to 24 months to reach
full-performance capability as an FSS specialist.
Mr. Babbitt. And I have no intent of making any change in
that environment. So that I think I can assuage that fear for
you.
Senator Begich. Great, thank you. The second one, which I
want to thank your office for. We had to get waivers to oxygen
to be moved by plane as you know. Your Assistant Deputy
Administrator helped a great deal on that.
Literally we were in some cases 2 days away from people
losing their capacity to have oxygen to live. And we had to
have waivers. And I appreciate your office.
But the one thing they didn't grant which is waivers, again
for oxygen tanks for construction. And the reason construction
is because you're using them for welding them and so forth.
We're now transporting these 250 pound containers on snow
machines across the tundra in the winter. I don't know if
that's very safe, to be very frank with you because they're not
going on a smooth ride.
So, if you could look into that I'd greatly appreciate
that.
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. They did the first half which was
fantastic. I mean, literally made a difference in people's
lives overnight. And it's just a unique situation of
transporting those facilities because we can't do it by road.
It's just not possible.
Mr. Babbitt. Oh, I'm aware.
Senator Begich. Let me follow up on a couple quick things.
I only have a few seconds left. But when people--when pilots
are denied by their carrier not to fly because of fatigue, is
there a record by the airlines when that happens?
Do you know how many of those have ever occurred? In other
words where an airline says you know what? You look a little
too tired or the pilot says, I'm too tired. Is there such a
record or documentation that you could say it's actually that
they're doing it?
Mr. Babbitt. If those records are being maintained,
Senator, they're being maintained by the carriers. I will tell
you that I think a number of carriers have addressed this
pretty aggressively. They have what they call commuter letters.
If the commute itself has led to some fatigue pilots have a
vehicle which they can take themselves off a flight.
And this is, again, this is an industrial solution. So
they're different on different carriers. But some of the
carriers that I've seen, have language that allows pilots to
take themselves off a flight. And in return they're willing to
make up a flight on another day when they're rested.
Others have different ways. Sometimes----
Senator Begich. But do you--I don't mean to interrupt you,
Administrator. But do you do random reviews to see? I mean, I
don't want to be critical on the airline industry because I
think generally it's an amazing safe industry overall. But we
have some issues.
But what they tell you and what you see may be two
different things. So do you have capacity? Do you have
authority and capacity to say I want to see the last month of
how many people you--pilots said, no, I can't fly because of
fatigue or you have turned away as pilots because of fatigue?
Do you have one capacity? And have you done that?
Mr. Babbitt. We have not made that recommendation to my
knowledge to go in or requested that type of inspection. I'm
certain if we did that the carriers would volunteer it. What
you would be asking----
Senator Begich. So you have capacity? You have legal
capacity, you think, to do that?
Mr. Babbitt. I don't believe we do.
Senator Begich. Oh, OK.
Mr. Babbitt. I don't believe we do.
Senator Begich. They will voluntarily.
Mr. Babbitt. I would see no reason why, as long as we kept
the information proprietary.
Senator Begich. Sure.
Mr. Babbitt. That a carrier, if we said, how many people
called in sick last month and how many called in sick and how
many said they couldn't fly due to fatigue, not illness, but
fatigue? I'm very comfortable the carriers would share that
with us.
Senator Begich. I've gone way past my time here. I just
want to say your example of when you posted on the website. I
remember as Mayor I did that on a couple things when people
weren't paying their bills. And I put them on the website. And
it was amazing the collection rate spiked rapidly.
So I think that's a good idea. Take it one more step. I
mean, I was glad to hear about it today. But if I wasn't here I
would have not known that, you know.
Mr. Babbitt. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you, Senator Begich. Senator
Hutchison is the Ranking Member of the Full Committee. I want,
as a matter of courtesy to recognize the Senator.
STATEMENT OF HON. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS
Senator Hutchison. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank
you, Administrator Babbitt.
Let me say first of all, that we must acknowledge how safe
overall our aviation system is. And we make that our highest
priority. It's your highest priority. And we will always do
that.
However, as we all know, the Colgan Flight 3407 is weighing
on our minds. And we've learned a lot from the investigation.
But we now must act.
Let me first ask you. On the time table, I understand that
the end of January is when you're looking at completing the
studies and the data. But then you have a notice of proposed
rulemaking. And that drags out.
So let me ask you. And you know that we sent you a letter,
a very bipartisan letter, by Senator Dorgan and Senator
Rockefeller, but also Senator DeMint and I signed it along with
other members of this Committee, including Senator Thune,
Senator Snowe, and Senator Klobuchar, asking how can we do this
faster. So that's our question to you.
Mr. Babbitt. Well when we publish the notice of proposed
rulemaking we are obligated by the rules of Federal procedure
to take comments. And people have a comment window that we have
to observe. We have to then digest those comments.
A good example parallel to this one and near and dear to me
is the section for training pilots. We had 3,000 pages of
comments that we are obligated to digest, summarize and then
incorporate if we could. So I really don't have a good direct
answer as to how to make this faster. But, I can assure you, if
there are gaps in there, we're going to close them as quickly
as we can.
Senator Hutchison. Could I ask you though, don't you have
an emergency authority as well? If you see something that you
think can be addressed quickly. I mean, when we've had the
screw on a cap being not correct, you've done emergencies, or
the FAA has in the past.
Is that a possibility in this instance because people are
really concerned about the fatigue issue?
Mr. Babbitt. Well as part of our ``Call to Action,'' we
reviewed with all the carriers their fatigue and risk
mitigation procedures. And the carriers have been very willing
to comply. I was also very pleased to see several of the unions
take very progressive action, and write serious pieces in their
publications to their members, the Air Line Pilots Association
editorial.
You know, we have to remember that every day 20,000 pilots
are going to go to work. And they're going to do a great job.
They're professionals. We're trying to find the two or three
that aren't.
And that's, you know, that's the hard part. So----
Senator Hutchison. Well let me just ask you this. Will you
reserve the capability, if you see something that can be done
on a more expedited basis, on a temporary measure obviously to
act? While you're completing this rulemaking, will you at least
hold open the possibility that if you see something that can be
done more quickly on a temporary basis you could do an
emergency order, if you decided it was warranted?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, if the data that we had indicated that we
had a gaping hole somewhere. Absolutely, I would act. And I
appreciate, you know, the letter that you all had written.
It's hard to convey here, but there's nobody pushing this
any harder than I am internally. And I've been at it a long
time. And this is something near and dear to me as well.
I should mention that as part of the ``Call to Action,'' we
asked people to respond with commitments to adhere to the
highest professional standard with specific commitments on
certain key topics and 80 of 98 carriers responded. So we now
have increased commitment for FOQA. We have ASAP programs.
These are voluntary programs.
Senator Hutchison. Well that's very positive.
Mr. Babbitt. Very positive. And the ones who didn't, in
most cases, have a pretty darn good reason. They're just too
small to really adopt a program with two or three pilots or one
airplane.
Senator Hutchison. Well let me just say in closing that I
am very concerned along with Senator Rockefeller. We had an
amendment in the Stimulus bill to try to have some incentives
for private investment in NextGen. He asked the NextGen
question which I would have asked if he hadn't asked it first.
But I'd say it's probably our highest priority, the
Chairman and myself, for the next step in safety as well as for
preparing for the capability to have the robust airline
industry that we want to have as the economy improves and
people are able to travel and our airlines get stronger. So
know that that's something that both of us consider very
important. And if we can go forward with some public/private
partnerships or incentives, I'm certainly going to be
supportive of that as well.
So we'll work with you on that. Thank you very much.
Mr. Babbitt. I appreciate that support.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Hutchison, thank you very much. And
let me reiterate NextGen is, for me as well, a major priority.
It enhances safety. There's no question about that.
And we've got equipage issues. We've got a lot of issues
with NextGen. You know, in my judgment it's not acceptable to
have 2020 and 2025 end dates here.
We need to move, move aggressively and quickly. And I share
Senator Hutchison's comment and the comment Senator Rockefeller
had. NextGen has to be a significant priority. We will have
additional hearings on that very subject.
Senator Klobuchar?
STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thanks for holding this hearing. Thank you, Director, for being
here again.
Let me say that, first of all NextGen is a priority for me
as well. But and I would reiterate what Senator Hutchison said
that our air transportation system is, without a doubt, the
safest in the world. But clearly we cannot rest on our past
achievements.
And this point was proven earlier this year with the
tragedy of Colgan Air, Flight 3407 which brought the safety of
our airlines back into the public eye. And what was so chilling
for me was to learn about these fatigue issues, to learn about
some of the training issues with regional flights. And the most
chilling was the conversation that was recorded between the
captain and the first officer when the first officer told the
pilot I've never seen icing conditions. I've never deiced. I've
never experienced any of that.
So actually as a result of some of our hearings starting
looking into these deicing rules and what had been happening.
And I was really shocked to find out, and of course as soon--
you weren't at the helm at the time. But this de-icing rule has
been pending for 12 years.
I raised this issue earlier in a letter to Secretary LaHood
a few weeks ago. And I was pleased. I worked with the new head
of ORIA, Cass Sunstein, to try to move it out of OMB. And we
were able to now get it out for public comment. But that's 12
years.
And I was just thinking when you said 3,000 pages for this
newest rule. Even if you had 3,000 pages for this de-icing
rule, it would be 250 pages a year or something like that over
a 12 year period. I mean, we just can't let this rules sit for
12 years.
So my first question is about that timing issue. And that
is can you assure us that this flight time rule will be
completed by 2010? The fatigue rule.
Mr. Babbitt. By 2010?
Senator Klobuchar. MmHmm.
Mr. Babbitt. You mean December 31 of this year?
Senator Klobuchar. December 31 of next year.
Mr. Babbitt. Oh, next year. Yes, I can. I'm the person who
wanted it out by the end of this year. I now understand some of
the complexities. I've worked with it over time.
One thing I do want to say is that for some of these
rulemakings while the rule itself may take a while, it doesn't
mean that the underlying issue that the rule is protecting
hasn't been addressed. And de-icing is a good example.
Because of the timeframe, we acted immediately and issued
over 100 air-worthiness directives that protected the very
thing. What this rule does is gathers all those up in one
place. We had to issue 100 air-worthiness directives.
So safety itself wasn't left exposed, we were doing it with
air worthiness directives.
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Babbitt. But the underlying safety issue was protected.
Senator Klobuchar. Right. That's very good. But you agree
that we'd like these in a rule.
Mr. Babbitt. Oh, absolutely.
Senator Klobuchar. I certainly thought of that when we had
our laptop over flight issue out of the Twin Cities airport
where the flight, the carrier, had a rule you couldn't be doing
personal e-mails and texting and looking at your computer. But
there wasn't a rule in place as we're trying to solve in the
Congress right now.
The other issue that has emerged from the Colgan crash has
been the adequacy of flight schools. And the captain, as was
noted, was a student in a flight school that grooms students in
as short as 6 months. Many of these pilots then land jobs at
regional carriers.
Can these flight students and trained schools train
students to be commercial pilots in such a short time to
adequately prepare them to fly 100 people in the air?
Mr. Babbitt. Well that's why we're making the suggestion
that we're making. And again, I think there has been some
misunderstanding that I'm somehow opposed to the idea that we
have better training.
I was looking at better training before anybody brought the
issue up. I am concerned about the elements of training. And I
am concerned that we're not giving people the elements they
need to do the mission they're doing.
If somebody is going to be a crop duster for commercial
aviation, they better learn some things about low altitude
flying. And they better know that business pretty well. If
you're going to carry passengers to take the responsibility of
carrying anywhere from 10 to hundreds of passengers with you,
you have an obligation. We have an obligation to make sure that
you have been trained and exposed to every potential scenario
that we can imagine today although there will be some unknowns.
You know, the flight into the Hudson was a great example. I
mean, I flew for 25 years. I hit a lot of birds. But no one
ever thought that you could ingest enough birds to kill both
engines. It happens, you know.
Senator Klobuchar. So it's--right. So the training is key.
And then the other thing we've talked about is just this idea
of the regional airlines themselves as kind of a farm team for
the major carriers. And I have asked this before of people if
this is seen as a stepping stone for a job with a major
carrier. And the answer is commonly, yes.
But what I'm wondering about is, how is the safety impacted
when you have this type of farm system? And if regional
carriers understand that their pilots are only working for a
short time or a number of them are, what incentives do the
regional carriers have to invest in these pilots and provide
them with anything more than the bare minimum training if
there's so much revolving door going on or people leaving the
regional carriers? And how do we fix that?
Mr. Babbitt. I'm not here to defend the regional airline
industry, but I think there's a little bit of misunderstanding
there. I was in the private sector for 42 years. I've been in a
government seat for 6 months. So my exposure in the private
sector is far more vast.
And so I understand, you know, all sides, both large
airlines and small ones. There are any number of very senior,
well qualified, 20, 25 year pilots at regional airlines. They
love their jobs there.
Maybe they live in smaller towns. They enjoy----
Senator Klobuchar. I believe that.
Mr. Babbitt. So it's a career for them. And it's a career
for a lot of people. There are other people----
Senator Klobuchar. But how about some, I mean, some of the
younger pilots with the training which we need too, but don't
stay as long. I mean, do you think the regional airlines are
investing as long and as much in their training, especially
after they startup with the airlines of some of the major
carriers? And do they have the same kind of training facilities
as the major carriers?
Mr. Babbitt. Many of them do. I can't speak for all of
them. But, if you recall, in our ``Call to Action,'' one of the
things that we asked was that our inspectors go to every
facility and review all the training.
And yes we did find some areas that could use improvement.
They were meeting the minimum standards. You're also seeing,
following the ``Call to Action'' a number of large carriers,
most of the large carriers now are holding meetings with their
regional partners----
Senator Klobuchar. Good.
Mr. Babbitt.--to ensure that they have the same level of
commitments to training and the safety forums and the
discussions how to better mentor. All of these things have gone
onto the table now.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much.
Senator Dorgan. Senator Klobuchar, thank you very much.
Senator Thune?
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE,
U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA
Senator Thune. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate
the continued focus on this important subject. The Committee
has been working on legislation that will address a lot of
these issues, as you know, Mr. Administrator.
I think one of the questions that I've raised in the past
had to deal with the pilot's records and their availability to
a perspective employer.There is a distinction between those
having to be voluntarily turned over as opposed to a
perspective employer having access to those records, which I
think is really important in making hiring decisions. I know
the legislation addresses that issue.
But I wanted to focus on a couple things. One is that you,
in your testimony, talked about the distinction between
quantity and quality. And I won't deny that there is--you
can't. You know, I'm not playing in the NBA because I don't
have a skill level to get there. There is a difference between
it. No matter how many hours I would practice.
But I do think there's something to be said for experience
and having a sufficient number of hours. And this is one of the
issues, of course that I think has been focused on as part of
our deliberations here as well. But how do you square that up
when you've got, say, a DC-9 that might be flying from
Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that has 30
passengers on it, compared to an RJ that's full that has 50
passengers.
I mean, clearly the number of people that a pilot is
responsible for on a regional jet could be more than you might
have as a pilot flying the full-size jet. And yet the number of
hours requirements and the distinction that's made in terms of
the experience and what you alluded to is the quality verses
quantity distinction. I'm interested in hearing you elaborate
on that, because it seems to me, at least, that the number of
hours of experience the pilot has got to be a part of the
equation in determining whether or not that pilot is equipped
and qualified to fly some of these planes.
Mr. Babbitt. Sure. Well it wouldn't really matter to me
whether they had one passenger or 100. They should be as
eminently qualified as we can make them.
And in that case everyone, whether they're flying a
regional jet or a 777, they would have to have an airline
transport rating. And they would have exactly the same
qualifications. What comes into question is, who can sit in the
right seat. Who can be the co-pilot?
And under today's legislation and regulations that person
can have a commercial pilot's license. And over the years--as I
alluded to--I think we became somewhat dependent on the fact
that the traditional airline industry, the model of 20 or 30
years ago, pretty much assured the co-pilot would sit in that
right seat for a number of years.
And he or she would be exposed to icing. They would have
high altitude. They would have mentoring. They would learn
their trade sitting in the right seat.
And that was OK. But what we have today is that when a new
airline forms, they hire 100 pilots. Guess what? 50 of them are
going to be captains and 50 of them are going to be co-pilots
with no guarantee of any assurance for us that they've achieved
any of this experience.
So what I'm suggesting is in terms of the number of hours
an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in which simply, you
put it out for suggestions. And what I propose to explore
through this ANPRM is the concept that if you're going to go to
work for a 121 carrier and you're going to sit in the right
seat, then you need to bring the day you come to work, a set of
credentials that's completely superior to what you're going to
be asked to bring today or allowed to bring today.
You're going to have had icing training. You're going to
have had upset training. You're going to have operated in a
multi-crew environment, in a simulated environment. You're
going to have seen all of these things.
What concerns me is to simply say that you need some number
of hours. And I'm not sure what that number of hours is. Maybe
it's 1,000 hours of experience needed along with those
elements.
I also think that when we get past here I think, as I've
stated earlier, I think we need to take a look. We've come a
long way in technology. We have aircraft that do a lot more
today than they did when this rule was written.
And I think some of the elements that are required to hold
an ATP need to be revisited including the same things I just
mentioned--the icing, the altitude upsets, all of these. Now
carriers put them in. We need to have an assurance that when
you go to work that you have those as a requirement.
Senator Thune. I guess I'm just suggesting that there is a
point at which quantity does matter where you have enough
experience and enough hours operating some of these aircraft.
And I'm not disputing the notion that the quality and the
ability to fly in different types of circumstances and
environments is important. But I do think that there is an
assumption sometimes that these smaller planes aren't as
difficult to fly. And therefore, you don't need as much
experience.
I don't think that is the case. So, I just wanted to focus
a little bit on that.
Mr. Babbitt. And I agree with you on that point. Sometimes
the smaller operations into difficult airports are very complex
and require a high level of skill.
Senator Thune. Right. The other issue I wanted to mention--
I think Senator Johanns touched on it--is the issue which came
into play on Flight 3407 and, of course, you had both pilots
who had commuted to their flight.
And one of the things that the letter that we sent to you
was trying to do was to get the focus on the flight time limits
that haven't been changed for a number of years. And FAA had a
proposal. I'm told the language was pulled after being out
there for some time. And that after some recent crashes it has
been revisited, which is why the letter urged you to move
forward.
But as you might imagine, the airlines are not very
receptive to the idea of reducing flight times for crew because
obviously you're going to have to hire more pilots. And that
costs more. And it's going to impact scheduling and everything
else.
But I'm wondering about this issue of commute times too.
Before somebody gets on a plane to fly a plane, what is the way
that you calculate the number of hours that pilots can fly?
We've talked a lot about this. I want to hear your thoughts and
perspective about how that can be addressed. There's clearly
very much at issue in this particular incident where you had
pilots that came in, were sick, had had long commutes, sleeping
in the airport crew lounge. I guess the policy allows this so
that they log hours sleeping.
But this clearly adds to the amount of time that they've
been flying and been up. And I'm sure it has got to effect
their ability to be alert when it comes time to actually fly
the plane.
Mr. Babbitt. Well that's an issue. We've talked about it
several times here. I am concerned about simply coming up with
a prescriptive rule that identified pilot commuting.
It's really not much of a burden on the carrier. The pilot
would have to simply leave home earlier in order to get some
amount of time. I'm presuming everybody is saying that well you
need to be someplace in some zone.
But it's very difficult when you begin to think about what
that zone is going to be. Who decides who commutes and who
doesn't? Where do we draw the circle?
I'll give you an example. I've been based here in
Washington, DC. Much of my career I was based in Washington,
DC.
A number of the pilots lived in Annapolis. It's 55 miles to
Dulles. Were they commuting? I mean they did most of their
trips out of Baltimore. But sometimes we had to fly out of
Dulles.
I lived at Dulles. I hated to fly out of BWI because it was
an hour-and-a-half drive up there. And if it was bad weather I
was looking at a couple of hours if it was an ice storm or
something.
Was I a commuter? I lived here. I was based here. This is
my domicile and I lived here.
I mean, there are just so many ways that somebody could
show up fatigued. And it's very difficult to put your arms
around well is it the fatigue issue or do we have some
prescriptive rule that says, OK, you commuted. You had to be
here 12 hours.
We don't have any assurance if those 12 hours were good
rest. We don't have any way of measuring the quality of the
rest you got anymore than we have a way of measuring the
quality rest for me if I live here and I had a child who was up
at midnight, or who I took to the emergency room at 2 o'clock
in the morning. If I was due out on a flight at eight, I have
no business flying that flight.
But I'm not a commuter. So these are some of the
difficulties that we're faced with. And the burden would be on
the pilots not the carriers.
Now I will tell you on the broader rule you mentioned some
concern that the carriers, you know, say well this could cost
more money. If it's uniform to everybody it doesn't make any
difference. If the price of fuel goes up two cents for all of
them, it just went up two cents for all of them.
And collectively they won't like that, but at least it's
not an unfair burden. You're not asking somebody to carry a
burden that the other ones don't. And in this case it's in the
interest of safety. And it's a burden I think they'd bear.
So I'm not overly concerned about the fact that we might
have, you know, some additional pilot staffing that would come
from this.
Senator Thune. OK. Well I know when you're living somewhere
and commuting, you may commute an hour-and-a-half or 2 hours to
get to the airport to fly. But I think there's a big difference
between that and commuting from Seattle, you know, to a flight
that departs from New York. I mean that is a very long commute.
And fatigue would certainly come into play.
Mr. Babbitt. Well, that's one of those issues of
professional responsibility. I certainly wouldn't if I knew I
was going to have to fly at 8 o'clock in the morning. I
wouldn't get on a flight at midnight and think that I could
jump seat all night long and have any expectation that I'd be
ready to fly. I simply wouldn't do that.
Senator Dorgan. Administrator Babbitt--Senator, thank you
very much, Senator Thune.
Administrator Babbitt, I have a number of questions. But I
believe a couple of other colleagues have probably wished to
ask a second round.
Let me just--I have questions about pilot's records and the
equipment outage that occurred on November 19. So I want to ask
them before we end and some NextGen. But let me ask you about
the Colgan crash, if I might.
Just generally speaking because I think you--I thought you
said earlier that you felt that the training was sufficient in
that cockpit. And I, you know, I guess I have tried to read as
much and learn as much as I could about that crash. 49 people
lost their lives in the airplane. That includes the crew of
that aircraft and one person on the ground.
As I have looked through this, it seems to me there are a
number of things that cause significant questions about that
cockpit. And I don't know whether it's just an aberration. It
just so happens this is the one airplane out of a lot of
flights. But because a lot of things went wrong this is the one
that crashed as well, but it doesn't exist elsewhere or the
question of the training, just as an example.
You're a pilot. You've flown a lot. You know and I know
that I believe it was a stick pusher.
Mr. Babbitt. Stick shaker went off first.
Senator Dorgan. Stick shaker first. Stick shaker went off
first and then the stick pusher. And the crew prior to that
time--let me ask the question a different way because I'm--
first of all you indicated this wasn't ice.
Of course the reason that the nose had to go down was
because of ice. They needed to pick up speed. That ice was
causing more drag and so they had to get that nose down. That's
why I assume that the stick pusher was reacting.
But my understanding is that neither of the people in that
cockpit had had in-flight training on a stick pusher. So if
you, God forbid, had been a passenger on that flight, would you
feel like there had been adequate training on at least that
portion of the procedures with respect to that cockpit crew?
Mr. Babbitt. I think this accident has shown us that the
fact that they were exposed to the stick pusher which is the
action of last result. The sequence, the airplane had been in
icing conditions. But the airplane was not icing. It had its
equipment on.
Senator Dorgan. Well it was icing, but what about the boots
and the hot prop were so were dealing with the icing, right?
Mr. Babbitt. Right. And what they had done they had begun
to slow the airplane down and put a lot of drag devices out,
flaps and so forth and failed to monitor the speed drop off.
When it dropped off, the stick shaker went off and instead of
giving full power which they should have done, for some reasons
known only to them, they thought they could recover with
partial power, which they couldn't.
The airplane then went to the second phase, the back-up
phase and said if you're not going to lower the nose, I will.
And that's when the stick pusher took over. They had been
exposed to that training but not in the fidelity that we could
give it to them. And I think we probably should look at that.
Senator Dorgan. So had you been a passenger you wished
there had been more training on that exposure that's in flight
or right, I mean. So I'm just asking is there a training issue
here? The answer it seems to be is yes.
Then the question is, is there an experience issue here?
The person in the right seat talked during the recording that
she didn't have much experience or understanding about ice. And
so on.
And we know the hours of both the right seat and the left
seat and also the pilot's records in the left seat. So is there
an experience issue in that cockpit?
Mr. Babbitt. I think this investigation is going to point
to that. The training issue you point out why someone can be
trained in something and then not do what they were trained to
do is what befuddles most of us.
Senator Dorgan. And is there a commuting issue with respect
to this flight, do you think? If you, God forbid, had been a
passenger or a loved one of yours was asking these questions
and one person flew from Seattle to New York, the other person
from Florida to New York with no evidence of either having been
in a bed. Is there a commuting issue in terms of causing
fatigue?
Mr. Babbitt. Commuting is what they did. But the lack of
professional planning on their part is what really troubles me.
Why would you do that? Why would you think that you could
commute from here? Why would you come home from vacation, you
know, 4 hours before departure. So----
Senator Dorgan. I understand. But what I'm trying to say is
that I think a whole series of things came together in that
cockpit that was certainly troublesome to me as an observer
after the fact. The training, experience, pilot records, as you
know the CEO of Colgan indicated that had he had access to all
the pilot's records that pilot would not have been hired. Are
you familiar with that?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan. OK. Training, experience, commuting,
pilot's records, all four raise flags for me. And I guess my
question is, is that just an aberration in that one cockpit on
that one airplane or that a harbinger of things to come unless
something significant changes?
Mr. Babbitt. I think it was a very bad collection of
events. But I think we have the wherewithal going forward to
remove each of those. Any accident is always the culmination of
a series of things. If we removed any one of them we wouldn't
have had an accident.
Senator Dorgan. And I've said before and I always want to
say that that pilot and co-pilot, I'm sure were wonderful human
beings, who cannot speak for themselves. And I always feel a
bit bad talking about the two people in that cockpit who lost
their lives. On the other hand, we don't have a choice but to
talk about that.
And I also know, speaking of pilots and flight crews,
Senator Johanns pointed out most of us here fly all the time,
all the time. And we know that there are a whole lot of men and
women who fly those airplanes who do a terrific job,
professional, great people. You know, I admire their skills.
So, I don't want this either to reflect on the profession.
But I do want to make sure that the things that we now know and
I've cited some of them, represent an urgency in the FAA in
terms of response because I think, Mr. Babbitt, when you were
nominated I expressed that I was pleased with that nomination.
You've got a wealth of experience. And you also now understand
the--I've described previously about trying to get through the
labyrinth of government agencies is like walking through wet
cement. It's very hard, very hard to get things done.
And yet, I think you reflect and understand--you understand
that we're saying boy, we want you to move aggressively. And I
think you come to this job not wanting to be a caretaker. You
want to move aggressively. So I want to help you.
I have other questions, but I want to call on Senator
Rockefeller.
The Chairman. I just wanted to comment. I agree with what
Senator Dorgan is saying. I had an icing question, but I think
that's been answered.
And I just--and thank you. I want to say that you just
sitting there and having observed what you do, you are a take
charge. You are proactive. You don't react.
You're proactive by nature because this is one of the most
difficult jobs in all of Washington. It's also one of the most
powerful jobs in all of Washington because you have the kind of
power that most Americans don't understand. But we do.
I fly into West Virginia almost never on a jet. I mean,
it's I serve myself you know champagne if I'm actually at the
end of a jet. We just don't have those.
So, I'm always concerned about the icing thing. I always
worry about them because you have a lot of bad weather in those
hills. But what I want to say is what I said at the beginning.
That the nature of this Committee has changed on all fronts, on
all subjects.
And it used to be sort of a go along type committee and
keep the trains running, planes running. We're not that now. We
are delving into.
We have a crew of investigative lawyers who report just to
me. And they can go anywhere they want and uncover any
wrongdoing they want. And they have access.
They use subpoena power freely. And the health insurance
industry can tell you all about that, so could the Internet
scam industry tell you all about that. That's what we do
because we're fighting for people here.
And this is not a statement to you, it's a statement, you
know, to everybody. We care first and foremost about consumers
and their safety. And we understand that we're in economic
difficulties. We understand that everybody is, every
corporation that has a small jet or a big jet or a small prop
or a big prop, they're all under pressure. So is the general
aviation industry.
I talked to a guy last night in Texas. He says their sales
are down something like 70 percent. You can buy a $25 million
plane for $9 million. I think that's what he used.
So I understand that. But we cannot be influenced by that
with respect to matters of safety and consumer interest. And at
that I want that message to go out loud and clear to all within
reach of my voice.
I thank you. I respect you. I think you're doing an
excellent job.
You have the personality. You have that straight ahead
look. You answer questions directly. You don't avoid. And
you're proactive.
Thank you.
Mr. Babbitt. Thank you, sir.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Babbitt, let me ask about pilot's
records. The FAA has made it a part of their ``call to
action,'' the ability for a potential employer to access all of
the pilot's records. Is that correct?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan. Good cooperation on that?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan. Alright. The use of laptops, personal
wireless communication devices in the cockpit during the
operation, the commercial operation of an airplane, my
understanding is given what we experienced, what we saw with
the commercial airliner overflying by an hour and 20 minutes or
so the city that it was aiming for. The pilots indicated they
were working on their laptops on pilot schedules. I don't know
what the real facts are, but that was what we know from public
disclosure.
We have introduced legislation to say that personal use of
wireless communication devices like laptop computers by pilots
operating a commercial aircraft would be banned. Now again,
personal use, I understand there are wireless devices that can
be used in the operation of an aircraft as part of the
operation, but personal use. Do you support our legislation?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan. And are you able to do something like that
administratively? I was surprised to find that many commercial
airline companies already prohibit this. But FAA regulations
would not.
And we just felt there ought to be a Federal regulation
that prohibits it.
Mr. Babbitt. This may be one of these areas where it was so
obvious that you thought no one would need guidance. Laptops
can be quite useful and a number of carriers provide them.
They have databases for takeoff information. Some people
have their flight crew manuals, and the aircraft manuals stored
in laptops onboard the aircraft.
Senator Dorgan. Right.
Mr. Babbitt. That's fine.
Senator Dorgan. Perfectly appropriate.
Mr. Babbitt. A very good use of it. But anything, a
magazine, doing Sudoku puzzles, anything that's distractive.
They shouldn't be doing that.
They have a function and anything that's distractive should
be forbidden. At my old carrier, we weren't even allowed to
have magazines or newspapers in the cockpit, period. If they
were visible, they were banned.
Senator Dorgan. November 19, the equipment outage that
caused massive flight delays across the country. Can you give
us a very brief answer? What caused that? And how can we have
confidence that's not going to happen again? Essentially
something similar to that happened a year ago.
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir. I'm very familiar with this one from
about 5:25 in the morning on, I was very aware of this. What
happened was a router in a large network system was being
replaced out in Los Angeles.
And that router had been mapped improperly. And when it was
put online it had a second problem. And this probably shouldn't
surprise any of us, it was a human error involved. The
installation team had suppressed a warning system.
So, had it been put on with the warning system on it would
have tripped itself off in about 15 seconds. And we would have
known instantly. But that didn't happen. It was allowed to go
online and put data in.
I think it's important for everybody to understand safety
was never compromised. What we lost was the ability to have our
system automated. The ability to process flight plan
information on an automated basis was what we lost.
So the system worked. It identified that it had a problem.
It identified that the data coming was erroneous, and it
essentially warned us to shut the system down. But it gave us
that warning much later than it should have due to the human
error.
Senator Dorgan. Alright.
Mr. Babbitt. So as a result of that I have, as of about 2
days ago, put together an independent review team. Now,
remember this was a contractor for us. So I have asked the CIOs
of the FAA itself and our Air Traffic Organization, along with
the OMB, representatives from the Department of Defense and the
DOT, all along with a couple of outside experts to take a look
at this system. And I want answers on two grounds.
Number one, in the short term, what happened? How did we
allow this to happen? Number one.
And number two, what have we done so that it never happens
again? The second phase which is a longer phase of this report
is going to be taking a good look at the network architecture.
We're building a complete new infrastructure on this. And I
want to make certain that we've got a robust architecture
that's protected and is redundant and will never allow this to
happen again.
Senator Dorgan. We are working with the FAA, Air Force and
others on the issue of air space for unmanned aircraft. As you
know, UAVs or UASs are a significant part of our future in a
range of areas. And there is a, I believe, an August 2010
target date.
I think Hank Krakowski from your organization is working on
this. I just want to mention that to you because it is
important that we continue to meet our deadlines there.
And then I want to--I'm going to call on Senator Lautenberg
in just a moment. I want to make one more final comment, then
I'm going to have to depart. And I'll allow Senator Lautenberg
to ask whatever questions he wishes to ask.
I said to Ms. Gilligan, who was here about a week and a
half ago, that we intend to monitor very, very carefully what
is happening with respect to your rulemaking because Ms.
Gilligan indicated that some of that had slipped. You
originally were talking about December. She talked about
January. You talked about today how difficult it is to do these
things which are committed. But time lines are hard.
We, again, after, for example just on that icing issue.
After 19 years on the Most Wanted List, we really are going to
be pushy. And we're doing that because we think it's essential,
at last, at long, long, last to get to the end stage of this.
You've been there a very short time. I understand that. And
you inherit these things that are unfinished. And then it's
your responsibility to finish them. And you will not like,
perhaps, that we push. But we're going to push really hard.
So, we want a good relationship with you, one in which we
push and you deliver and America's skies are safer as a result.
Again, I said when I started, I'm really pleased that you
became FAA Administrator, frankly. I think you bring a wealth
of experience to this job, more so than many others in past
years.
And you have the capability to do really good things. And
we want to give you the tools to do it. And we want you to meet
deadlines.
And so I thank you very much for coming here. I'm going to
send a list of additional questions, especially on the subject
of NextGen, because that is a significant priority of ours and
especially targets and timelines are important there----
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir.
Senator Dorgan.--as Senator Rockefeller and Senator
Hutchison indicated.
Mr. Babbitt. As a matter of fact, I have suggested to some
of the staff that perhaps we could give you a quick tour of and
a timeline for some of the things that we're doing. I think
you're going to see a tremendous acceleration here. The
components are coming together. I appreciate some of the push
that you give us. You should rest assured there's some of that
push going on internally from me.
And so I would invite you and would be delighted to escort
a group to show you live and in color what we are doing with
NextGen, and what the potential is for it. So I welcome that.
Thank you.
Senator Dorgan. Mr. Babbitt, thank you very much.
Senator Lautenberg, would you proceed and adjourn the
hearing when you are completed?
STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK R. LAUTENBERG,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY
Senator Lautenberg. OK.
Senator Dorgan. Thank you.
Senator Lautenberg. How long shall I proceed before I
adjourn?
[Laughter.]
Senator Dorgan. Until you run out of breath or run out of
questions.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Babbitt. Or 5 minutes.
Senator Dorgan. Or 5 minutes, as the Administrator
suggests.
[Laughter.]
Senator Lautenberg [presiding]. Anyway, thanks for being
here. And thanks Senator Dorgan, Senator Rockefeller for their
constant attention to matters of air travel. And the--I am
informed that we have some of the people from the families of
those who lost their lives in the Colgan flight to Buffalo. And
while there isn't a lot we can do for consolation, but to let
them know that their presence and their interest can help us
get to a place where perhaps we can make sure that something
like that doesn't happen again.
And so we're certainly pleased to have Mr. Babbitt as the
Administrator. He has, as has been described, extensive
experience. And we've had a chance to get to know one another.
And I'm pleased at the interest and the action that he's
committed to taking to provide safe travel.
It's amazing when you think about it, about the record that
has been composed over the years in aviation in this country.
But even one slip is one too many. We should never have that
happen.
Runway safety and aircraft overruns continue to be
significant problems, Mr. Babbitt. Recently a DOT Inspector
General report highlighted dangerous runway procedures at
Newark Airport. Now these procedures were brought to the
attention of the FAA nearly 2 years ago by a Newark air traffic
controller.
But yet, the FAA has just now decided to act which we're
pleased to see. But why did it take FAA so long to act on
safety concerns raised by a veteran air traffic controller?
Mr. Babbitt. That's a very serious issue for us, Senator.
We have, I think you should know, that since I've been the
Administrator, my chief council has created an office to
completely revamp how we deal with the whistle blowers. And I
guess the most important point I want to make is when someone
raises a question and they have to ``blow a whistle'' to get
the information to us, we've already had a breakdown. We've
already had a slip in the system.
And when people bring us safety concerns we should be
dealing with them. I want these handled differently. Something
went wrong. We had a failure to communicate. We had a failure
of understanding. Something went wrong.
And I want to change that. So----
Senator Lautenberg. So we can count on you to be a willing
listener or to make sure that someone is a willing, unbiased
listener if complaints come from those employed in the system
because----
Mr. Babbitt. That's precisely what we're trying to create.
Senator Lautenberg. And there has been in the past some
concern about security of the jobs by raising complaints. And
we don't want to hear about that anymore because we'll get them
to the witness table and have them----
Mr. Babbitt. And that completely flies in the face of what
we're trying to achieve with safety management systems. I've
testified here and other places and I've spoke about it. And
before every professional group they can bring action and
pressure for us. But we need to have a system that allows
people to point out safety flaws that will guide us to avoiding
accidents, avoiding problems, and avoiding conflicting runway
issues. Any of these are worthy of being addressed and we need
to find a vehicle to allow them to express it.
Senator Lautenberg. Well certainly we know that when things
go the other way when a mistake is learned about, when bad
practice is threatening that the FAA should be quick to jump on
it. And they should certainly be equally as quick to respond to
something that comes from an experienced and working flight
controller.
I want to talk for a moment about Colgan Flight 3407. The
first officer of that flight had a base pay of around $20,000.
She traveled from Seattle on a red eye. She carried around some
concerns, obviously, about her income, lived at home with her
parents. And she may have also been ill at the time of the
flight, but was afraid to lose the time that she would not be
paid for, so much pressure.
You and I talked about Captain Sully, the veteran pilot of
the miracle on the Hudson. He was cut 40 percent in his salary
in recent years forcing him to take another job. Given all the
responsibilities that commercial pilots shoulder, should there
be some review of salaries? It would be extremely unusual, but
this is a--they don't send anybody up in a NASA shuttle unless
they know they're in good health.
There are so many other situations where heavy
responsibility relies on an individual where their health
isn't, their condition isn't a concern. And health includes
reductions in stress and with an ease of facility to get to
work and so forth. I am not against people having to travel to
get to work. But the thing that should happen is there should
be sufficient time to get to work and have enough of a time
lapse that they can have some recovery time before they get in
the cockpit.
So the question of incomes ought to be somehow or other
reviewed. And I'd like you or your department to do it or we'll
do it from our offices, get some indication of what salaries
are. And to see whether they're consistent with the
responsibilities that go into the manning of the cockpit in an
airliner.
Regional airliners operate half of all domestic departures.
They move more than 160 million people a year. Now if we have
one level of safety for both regional and major network
carriers, shouldn't the pilots of the regional carriers be
trained and compensated at the same level as pilots for major
network carriers, particularly if they're flying identical
routes?
Mr. Babbitt. Well the data that you mentioned earlier--
compensation records--are readily available. As a matter of
fact they report them today to the Department of
Transportation. Form 41 collects that data so we know what all
carriers pay. And it's even broken down into cockpit, mechanics
and so forth. So the data is available to us.
Compensation varies among every carrier, based on the
health of a carrier. And while I, you know, have concerns, it
might not shock you to know that when I flew for Eastern
Airlines, I took a 20 percent pay cut myself as a professional
pilot and lost a substantial portion of my pension plan. So,
I'm very familiar with what the economic impact of a carrier
that is in stress and does these things.
But it still concerns me. It should concern all of us that
we won't continue to attract the best and the brightest of this
industry if we can't compensate people. If they can't be
assured that they're going to have a pension plan.
I testified in this very building in 1992 about pension
reform and the obligation that I thought, carriers had. That's
not my role here today. But I am concerned that if the wages
aren't supportive of attracting qualified, intelligent people
to these jobs in the long run, we'll suffer.
And so that's not anything that the FAA can undertake. But
I think the commercial airline industry and I would applaud
Secretary LaHood, who has called a group together to study the
long term. He brought together folks from the industry, from
the airlines, from the manufacturers, and from labor unions to
sit down and discuss the question, what do we want this airline
industry to produce?
Do we want it to produce service to small cities, jobs,
high-paying, good jobs to people whether they be mechanics or
pilots? And if that's what we want, have we enabled the system
to do that? And so I applaud Secretary LaHood's action there.
He's going to empower that within about 2 weeks.
This group is going to get together. And he's made it very
clear he doesn't want a series of nice things to do. He wants a
series of actionable items that we can take.
Senator Lautenberg. Good. We had an incident in this room
some time ago when there was a takeover attempt of one airline
by another. The acquiring airline was willing to pay $17
billion in cash to buy the other airline. The room was full of
pilots from the acquiring airline.
And I asked a question of the CEO of the company, if they
had $17 billion available for purchase of another airline, why
were they reducing pensions? The room broke out in applause. I
wasn't looking for that, but the deal was broken because there
was a different evidence of a responsibility that the airlines
had to take.
And we need their cooperation in determining what kind of
compensation ought to be there to make sure that the pilot is
flying as much as we can with a respectable salary that says,
look, this job is worth it because people love to fly, as you
know. And they will fly for almost any price. Not just for
income, but for love of job and rendering a real service.
And in 2006, the former FAA Administrator stated that
Newark Liberty air traffic control tower needed at least 35
controllers to move traffic safely. But right now there are
only 26 certified controllers and 8 trainees in manning the
tower. They're supposed to have 35 trained, but they have only
26 trained, fully trained.
Now I've been asking this question for the past 5 years,
and this time I'd like to have it be the last time that we
discuss this. And I trust you, Mr. Administrator, to make sure
that if you don't have the resources to do this and you have to
let us know.
That when will the Newark Tower be fully staffed with
certified controllers? When will the LaGuardia be fully
staffed? When will and I just look at those in the region that
I--and why also at JFK are these understaffed?
Maybe there can be technological reasons that say, OK, well
we can get by with that. But if that's the case you're going to
have to tell us about it.
And last, the FAA has taken a major air space redesign in
the New Jersey/New York/Philadelphia region. The major overall
of the flight patterns has raised safety concerns from
controllers and could increase the noise levels over many parts
of New Jersey. In 2007, the FAA official dismissed the noise
problem at best as a side issue.
Well, we can't say in good conscience that the quality of
life issues affecting hundreds of thousands of New Jerseans
should be considered in the redesign process. And there is also
a concern about living in the path, the glide path of an
airport or take-off. Can we count on you to do that and also
willingness to hold a town hall meeting in New Jersey to
discuss any FAA plan to address the safety and noise concern
regarding air space design projects?
Mr. Babbitt. Yes, sir. I indicated in the past, I think one
of the areas that we have not done well in, is when we talk
about air space redesign. People immediately focus on some new
dotted lines that didn't used to go over the area in which they
live. When we talk about air space redesign, we have a couple
of things to expand on.
We have a new contract with the National Air Traffic
Controller Association. We're making a lot of efforts to have a
much better dialogue and ability to communicate with them and
the ability to collaborate with them on issues. I want their
participation in this air space redesign. I welcome their
participation.
This is the environment in which they live. They do this
day-to-day. You can have a lot of academic studies, but having
the academic and the technical solution paralleled and mated
with the practitioner gives you a far better product in my
experience. So we want to do that.
Second, I think it's incumbent upon us to let people know
that we're doing more than just changing the dotted lines. With
this air space redesign and I think I've noted in the past,
we're not redesigning it just because it's working so well now.
It's not working well now. And with the new technology that we
have we're going to be able to utilize a lot of new techniques.
But we----
Senator Lautenberg. We look forward to that. And I'm going
to close this hearing. And once again, convey our condolences
to those who lost loved ones in the flight to Buffalo.
We're trying very hard honestly. I address this to the
people here to make sure that we learn from mistakes, and how
terrible a mistake that was. How terrible an error in judgment
that was in terms of having the kind of person in the cockpit
that you couldn't feel good about or obviously was unable to
assist in that moment of emergency.
With that I close this hearing. Thank you again, Mr.
Babbitt. Thank all of you for being here.
[Whereupon, at 11:52 a.m. the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV
to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question. Last year there were several incidents that demonstrated
that air carriers were not in full compliance with the FAA safety
standards and airworthiness directives. What steps have been
implemented to make certain that air carriers' maintenance programs are
in full compliance with the FAA's safety standards?
Answer. The agency established an airworthiness directive (AD)
compliance review team (CRT), consisting of eight FAA and industry
subject matter experts, to review these events. The AD CRT's September
2009 report documents 12 findings and recommendations which focused on
the process of developing and implementing ADs and ensuring compliance.
As a result of the AD CRT report, the FAA asked manufacturers, air
carriers, and industry associations to participate in an aviation
rulemaking committee (ARC) to develop implementation actions responsive
to the findings and recommendations from the AD CRT.
The ARC met for the first time in December 2009. Its four
supporting sub-groups will work through recommendations in the
following areas: Service Information, AD Implementation, AD Development
and FAA Procedures. The ARC will submit a final report detailing
recommendations and implementation actions by June 2011.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Byron L. Dorgan to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question 1. I have concerns about the speed of NextGen
implementation as a whole. Do you believe the agency is on track to
deliver on its modernization commitments in both the near-term and by
2025?
Answer. NextGen is one of the Department of Transportation's top
priorities. It represents the single, most significant overhaul of the
National Airspace System in American history and we are on track to
deliver on our NextGen commitments.
In 2009, the FAA made significant progress toward the
implementation of NextGen by meeting 94 percent of our high-priority
NextGen goals for the year. For example, in 2009 our new satellite-
based aircraft surveillance tracking system, Automatic Dependant
Surveillance--Broadcast (ADS-B), was made operational in the Gulf of
Mexico where surveillance has never before been possible. That comes on
the heels of making ADS-B operational in Louisville, and many other
sites will soon follow suit. The 2010 NextGen Implementation Plan,
which we expect to publish in early 2010, provides a summary overview
of FAA's planned and ongoing activities.
The September 2009 RTCA NextGen Mid-Term Implementation Task Force
report reiterated the need to maximize those benefits that can be
achieved today with existing aircraft equipage, while continuing to
build toward the longer-term. In response to the RTCA report, the FAA
has made significant adjustments to our NextGen plan to address the
RTCA's recommendations.
Recognizing that NextGen is a portfolio of investments, there will
be incremental progress as the FAA implements NextGen solutions and
capabilities throughout the near and mid-term. New infrastructure and
associated capabilities will provide a foundation for expanded
capabilities and benefits that will be introduced over the long term.
It is expected that a significant portion of the core objectives of
NextGen (enhanced safety, increased system capacity, improved quality
of service, and enhanced environmental performance) will be met as
planned through the implementation of relatively well-understood,
advanced concepts, technologies, procedures, and policies. We estimate
that by 2018, NextGen will reduce total flight delays by roughly 21
percent while providing $22 billion in cumulative benefits to the
traveling public, operators and the FAA. In addition, 1.4 billion
gallons of fuel will be saved, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by
nearly 14 million tons.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Mark Begich to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question 1. What is the current staffing and vacancy levels at each
of Alaska's Flight Service stations?
Answer. The FAA is responsible for the operations and staffing of
the 17 FSSs in Alaska. These consist of parent facilities in Fairbanks,
Juneau, Kenai, and Palmer with 13 satellite facilities elsewhere across
the State. As of December 11, 2009, we have 192 full-time personnel
supporting these facilities with 3 vacancies.
Staffing numbers by parent facility are summarized below:
Fairbanks (includes Barrow and Northway)
Onboard--46
Vacancy--1
Kenai (includes Cold Bay, Dillingham, Homer, Iliamna, and McGrath)
Onboard--68
Vacancy--1 (non-FSS specialist)
Palmer (includes Nome, Kotzebue, Deadhorse and Talkeetna)
Onboard--26
Vacancy--0
Juneau (includes Sitka and Ketchikan)
Onboard--38
Vacancy--1
Regional Office Administration
Onboard--14
Vacancy--0
Question 2. How many of these employees are currently retirement-
eligible or will become retirement-eligible within the next 3 years?
Answer. Maintaining the necessary numbers and experience levels for
our Alaskan FSS workforce is a top priority of the FAA. Presently,
despite only having three vacancies, we have a growing number of
individuals who are either at or nearing retirement eligibility. As of
today, 97 of the current 192 employees are eligible to retire. This
number increases by 9 in calendar year (CY) 2010, 11 in CY 2011 and 10
in CY 2012. A recent survey of retirement-eligible employees showed
that 13 of the 97 are likely to retire before June 2010.
Flight service station personnel are classified as air traffic
control specialists and, as such, they may not perform air traffic-
related functions beyond age 56. Currently, however, this requirement
can be waived at the discretion of the Administrator. The FAA FSS
program office has and will continue to consider this option for those
FSS specialists who desire to continue their FSS duties beyond age 56.
Question 3. What is the FAA's plan for training Flight Service
Specialists to insure Alaska maintains fully staffed and professionally
trained Flight Service Stations?
Answer. Training of future FSS specialists has changed since
Lockheed Martin took responsibility for delivery of FSS products in all
states but Alaska. Rather than training a limited number of flight
service specialists at the FAA Academy at the Mike Monroney
Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the FAA will be
providing training for Alaska specialists at our facility in Kenai. We
are finalizing the updated, localized curriculum for a class that will
commence in early 2010. Employment bids for both in-state and out-of-
state candidates to populate this and future classes will be released
within the next several weeks. Once candidates are selected and their
initial training is complete, they will be assigned to a principal duty
station where on-the-job and local area knowledge training will occur.
It is anticipated each applicant will take from 12 to 24 months to
reach full-performance capability as an FSS specialist.
Question 4. During your testimony, you mentioned a recent Federal
ruling allowing for flexibility with employees considering retirement.
Can you please provide more information on this ruling?
Answer. The salary of a retired employee who receives a Federal
annuity, i.e., an annuitant, is generally reduced and/or off-set if the
annuitant returns to Federal employment. However, the National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2010 changed this rule by
amending the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal
Employee Retirement System (FERS) statutes.
The amendments to the CSRS and FERS statutes allow the head of the
Agency to waive the application of the off-set and salary reduction
rule applicable to reemployed annuitants, under certain circumstances
(e.g., waivers may be granted when it is necessary to fulfill functions
critical to the mission or assist in recruitment or retention of
employees). Certain limitations also exist with respect to appointments
pursuant to such waivers including limitations on the duration of an
appointment, the hours of service that may be performed by an annuitant
appointed under the waiver authority, and the number of annuitants
granted waivers.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued guidance on
this legislative change and we are coordinating with DOT on how best to
attract and benefit retirees willing to return to part-time Federal
employment during peak demand periods either as FSS specialists or
instructors at our Kenai facility. We will update you on these items
and their applications to our Alaska FSS staffing as more information
becomes available.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question 1. Under current FAA regulations governing flight and duty
rules for pilots there are three sections with three sets of rules: one
for domestic scheduled operators, one for international flag carriers
and one for non-scheduled operations. Could you explain the reasoning
behind having three different sets of rules?
Answer. These rules were originally constructed to apply to the
unique properties associated with the kind of operation (domestic,
flag, or international), including the associated business models.
However, the FAA is currently in the process of amending the existing
flight and duty regulations, using fatigue science to create a single
regulatory approach to addressing fatigue in all types of Part 121
operations. We anticipate issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking by
April 2010.
Question 2. Last year I filed an amendment to the FAA
Reauthorization bill that would allow proven bird strike radar
technologies to be purchased with Airport Improvement Program funds as
long as they do not have a negative effect on navigational aids. What
is the status of the FAA's studies on bird strike radars?
Answer. The FAA Technical Center in New Jersey, FAA, in conjunction
with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Illinois
Center of Excellence for Airport Technology, is currently testing
various types of commercially-available bird radar systems. The purpose
of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the systems as well
ensuring that bird radar systems can coexist with, and not impact,
existing airport navigational aids. We will use the results of the
assessments to develop a performance specification which would make
avian radar eligible for competitive procurement by airports using AIP
grants.
A three-step process must be completed prior to making avian radar
eligible for AIP grants. First, the technical evaluation must be
completed. We expect the evaluation to be complete in the next several
months. Second, the performance specification must be developed. We
expect the performance specification to be completed before the end of
Fiscal Year 2010. The third step in the process is development of
guidance for the use of AIP grant funds. Based on the work effort
remaining, we expect that the testing, specification and technical
guidance will be complete in time for the FY2011 grant year.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question 1. Administrator Babbitt, in your 6 months at the helm of
the FAA, how have you made it clear to the airline industry that there
is truly only one level of safety for all air carriers?
Answer. All Part 121 air carriers, regional and mainline, are held
to the same regulatory standards and are inspected by the Federal
Aviation Administration under the same protocol as prescribed by the
Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS).
In addition to the regulations, the FAA has developed voluntary
programs that enhance safe operations. Examples of these programs
include the Advanced Qualification Program (AQP), Aviation Safety
Action Program (ASAP), Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA), Line
Operations Safety Audit (LOSA), and Voluntary Disclosure Reporting
Program (VDRP). These programs can require additional investment by air
carriers. Mainline carriers may be better situated, financially, to
make these investments than regional carriers.
Nevertheless, in my letter of June 24, 2009, I clearly communicated
my expectation to air carrier CEOs that all Part 121 air carriers
should implement FOQA and ASAP programs. I have received responses from
82 percent of Part 121 air carriers. These responses show that 98
percent of airplanes operating under Part 121 are flown by operators
which have, or intend to implement ASAP programs. In addition, 94
percent of aircraft operating under Part 121 are flown by operators
which have or intend to implement, both ASAP and FOQA.
Question 2. Administrator Babbitt, earlier this year I introduced
legislation to improve the safety of air medical services (S. 1199).
The content of my bill was included in the FAA reauthorization
legislation reported by the Commerce Committee. My understanding is
that the FAA is looking at issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking on
helicopter EMS operations to address a number of the National
Transportation Safety Board's ``most wanted'' safety improvements,
among other things, and has initiated a formal `rulemaking project'.
What is the status rulemaking process?
Answer. We have moved expeditiously to complete a notice of
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) addressing many of the NTSB recommendations
related to helicopter air ambulance operations, as well as many of the
voluntary initiatives put in place over the last 3 year period. This
NPRM is in the final stage of agency clearance and on schedule to be
published in the spring, after DOT and OMB clearance are complete.
Question 3. Administrator Babbitt, as you know, regional airlines
have different business models. At carriers such as Horizon, which is
part of the Alaska Air Group, headquartered in my state of Washington,
pilots can- and do have fulfilling careers flying for a regional
airline. One way of looking at the continuing education and training
Horizon provides for its pilots is that it is making a long-term
investment in its most critical asset.
Some regional airlines, though, which focus exclusively on being
the low-cost feeder to a mainline carrier, may view pilots as a short-
term operational expense and therefore look to hire minimally qualified
pilots, pay them as little as possible, and not invest in anything much
more than on-the-job training.
I understand you want us to not focus exclusively on a specific
number of flight hours a pilot and copilot have, but on the range of
situations a pilot and co-pilot are trained to address. If it does end
up that the FAA moves forward with the approach that you are advocating
for in your testimony today, how will ensure compliance at all
airlines, including all regional carriers?
Answer. As you have stated, not all pilots for regional airlines
regard their employment as merely an opportunity to gain experience and
move to a major airline. Many pilots make decisions based on the
lifestyle a regional airline can provide, such as seniority, types of
airplanes or location of domiciles.
Whether employed by a regional or a major airline, all pilots are
trained and qualified in accordance with Part 121. FAA conducts the
same oversight (e.g., through inspection and observation) of Part 121
operators, whether a regional or a major airline.
Focusing exclusively on a specific number of flight hours a pilot
and copilot have is one option to address the issue of better
operational experience for pilots who carry commercial passengers. My
concern is that this option focuses on quantity rather than quality and
scope of training and experience. The kind of experience needed cannot
be measured only in hours of flight time. For these reasons, the FAA is
considering a number of possibilities. One idea is to address this
issue through an endorsement, such as the endorsement required to serve
as pilot-in-command in a pressurized aircraft. For instance, a
commercial pilot who wishes to work for a Part 121 air carrier, might
first be required to obtain an endorsement showing successful
completion of ground training and flight operational experience in
specifically defined areas (e.g., icing, high altitude). These concepts
will be explored in the advance notice of proposed rulemaking we intend
to issue within the next 45 days on pilot certification requirements
for Part 121 operations.
Question 4. Administrator Babbitt, as you know, the FAA is in the
process of replacing the HOST Computer system--technological backbone
for En Route Air Traffic Control--with ERAM. As I understand it,
however, this change-over has not been as smooth as the FAA or its
contractor had hoped. The air traffic controllers have had to learn to
do a number of more labor intensive work-arounds, which is an
inconvenience during the midnight to four am shift when there is little
traffic, but of much greater concern when air traffic controllers are
handling numerous flight operations during the busier times of the day.
As you know Seattle is next in line for ERAM after Salt Lake City. What
is ERAM's current status and implementation schedule?
Answer. ERAM is currently undergoing operational use and evaluation
at its key sites in accordance with the FAA's acquisition management
system. A key milestone in the process is the In-Service Decision (ISD)
which will determine our ability to proceed with ERAM to the other 18
sites.
The key sites for the ERAM program are Salt Lake Air Route Traffic
Control Center (ARTCC) and Seattle ARTCC. We intend to start continuous
(24 x 7) operational use at the Salt Lake City (ARTCC) in February.
The role of a ``key site'' is to use the new system in an actual
operational environment and find software ``bugs'' that were not
identified at the prime contractor's facility and at our Technical
Center, despite very extensive testing there.
The problems that were identified at Salt Lake are being resolved
through software fixes that were recently delivered to the site.
Currently, we expect to commence continuous operations at Salt Lake
ARTCC by early February. We are proceeding down a similar path with our
second key site, the Seattle ARTCC where they have identified all of
their remaining known software problems that must be fixed. The
software changes are still in the process of being made, and we expect
delivery to occur in the latter part of February. Independent
Operational Test & Evaluation is expected to start in February as well.
We are pleased to announce that we have reached a memorandum of
understanding with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on
ERAM implementation. They have identified a national technical
representative, and we have engaged the Air Traffic Controllers from
Salt Lake City (ZLC) in the testing of the new software build at the
Atlantic City Technical Center.
Question 4a. My understanding is that there is a backup system for
HOST. Is there a back-up system for ERAM? If it is the same system that
currently backs-up HOST, have there been any difficulties in switching
between that system and ERAM?
Answer. The backup system to HOST is called EBUS. It is a separate
system that provides less than full capability as a backup (for
example, limited data blocks). The backup to ERAM is ERAM itself, in
that it is an internally redundant system, i.e., it has two completely
redundant channels (and processors, etc.), both with the same full
capabilities. HOST is a single channel system; if it goes down, the
overall automation system transitions to EBUS for limited capability.
With ERAM's two channels, if one of them goes down, the overall
automation system transitions to the other channel. Again, both
channels have the same full capabilities. The ERAM ``backup'' is
therefore more robust than the HOST backup. EBUS will continue to be
used as part of the system transition from HOST to ERAM, but as HOST is
retired from each facility, EBUS will also be retired from our
inventory.
The difficulties encountered in transitioning from EBUS to ERAM
have been addressed in the latest software which will be used to start
continuous 24 x 7 operations by early February at Salt Lake.
Question 5. Administrator Babbitt, based on your experience in
industry, is there any advantage to using notice to airmen (NOTAM)
compared to going through a formal rulemaking process when it comes to
aviation safety issues? Philosophically, do you see there being
benefits to having airlines voluntarily abide by safety directives or
do statutes and rules provide a more effective means of ensuring
compliance?
Answer. (a) The FAA uses NOTAMs to disseminate time-critical
aeronautical information that is of either a temporary nature or not
sufficiently known in advance to permit publication on aeronautical
charts or in other operational publications. NOTAM information includes
information on airports, taxiways, ramps, obstructions, communications,
airspace, changes in the status of navigational aids, radar service
availability, and other information essential to planned en route,
terminal, or landing operations.
(b) Although regulations are essential in some cases, history has
shown that we can often implement safety improvements more quickly and
effectively on a voluntary basis. To do so, we use tools such as the
Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) and the Information for Operators
(InFO).
A SAFO is an information tool that alerts, educates, and makes
recommendations to the aviation community. SAFOs frequently contain
information that is time critical. The FAA expects operators to
consider immediate implementation of any applicable action recommended
in a SAFO.
An InFO contains information to help operators meet certain
administrative, regulatory, or operational requirements with relatively
low urgency or impact on safety. InFOs contain information or a
combination of information and recommended action to be taken by the
respective operators identified in each individual InFO.
Question 6. Administrator Babbitt, I am a strong advocate for the
accelerated adoption of RNAV/RNP technologies. In addition to the fuel
savings, the use of RNAV/RNP, when combined with a continuous decent
approach, will reduce in the aggregate, the total amount of noise
experienced by all those living in areas surrounding the airport. The
new more efficient approach, though, may increase the noise experienced
by a narrow segment of population--places that may have never been
subject to airline noise before. If a new more efficient approach is
designed that flies over an area that is not part of an airport's
existing environmental impact study area, does a new environmental
impact study need to be conducted? If that is the case, could that slow
significantly the adoption of RNAV/RNP?
Answer. The FAA's policy with regard to establishment or proposed
change in procedures includes the requirement to conduct a noise
screening analysis, including arrival aircraft below 7,000 feet above
ground level (AGL), departure aircraft below 10,000 feet AGL, or when a
national park or other similar land (on a case-by-case basis) is in the
area, below 18,000 feet mean sea level. This noise screening analysis
will determine the level of environmental review necessary. The degree
of change in the current noise footprint associated with the proposed
change in procedure(s) will determine the level of environmental review
required, regardless of whether the area is or is not part of an
airport's existing environmental impact study area. There are four
basic criteria that determine the level of environmental review
required for a proposed change. They are: (1) a change in the day-night
sound level (DNL) of 1.5 decibels (dB) or greater within the 65 dB
contour; (2) a change of 3 dB or more in the 60 to 65 dB contour; or
(3) a change of 5 dB in the 45 to 60 dB contour; and 4) the type of
land-use in the area of change.
The result of the noise screening analysis will determine the level
of environmental review required; either a Categorical Exclusion
(CATEX), a Documented CATEX, an Environmental Assessment (EA) with a
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), or an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) with a Record of Decision (ROD). The CATEX or
Documented CATEX does not have the potential to delay implementation of
an RNAV/RNP procedure. An EA/FONSI can take approximately 12 to 18
months to complete and depending on the start date, could potentially
delay implementation by a few months. An EIS/ROD process takes anywhere
from 24 months or more to complete and would have the greatest impact
on an implementation schedule.
Procedures requiring additional environmental studies can
significantly extend the production timeline depending on the level of
the environmental study. With a solid foundation of routes and
procedures in place, we are exploring ways to accelerate performance-
based navigation (PBN) and the Next Generation Air Transportation
System (NextGen) using techniques such as continuous descent arrival
and optimized profile descent (OPD). We are migrating away from a site-
by-site (or runway-by-runway) procedure implementation process toward a
NextGen readiness concept that would include development of an
integrated system of PBN routes and procedures by geographic area
(incorporating metropolitan areas and outlying airports). The key
difference is that this approach combines airspace, environmental, and
procedure development. Where possible, we are implementing OPDs with
area navigation (RNAV) to make them environmentally friendly or
``green,'' however, any new procedure still requires noise screening.
Question 7. Administrator Babbitt, my understanding is that the
contractor operating the FAA's Automated Flight Service Stations
(AFSS), which does not include Alaska, continues to shut down stations
across the country and consolidate these functions into its three hubs.
Several AFSSs are being shut down on February 1, 2010, including the
one in Seattle. With the Winter Olympics starting in Vancouver, British
Columbia later that month, and with the expected increase in the number
of private planes, I am surprised that the contractor would chose to
close down the facility at that time. But apparently, the contractor
has that discretion under the contract. As the contractor continues to
shut down AFSSs nationally, are there a sufficient number of
individuals trained at its three hubs with sufficient regional
knowledge to provide the necessary flight information to pilots around
the country?
Answer. Yes. The seven continuing sites planned for consolidation
are part-time and provide only preflight (pilot weather briefing)
services. The exception to this is the Miami facility which provides
full services. The three hub locations in Ashburn, Virginia, Fort
Worth, Texas, and Prescott, Arizona, currently provide comprehensive
flight services using local area knowledge-trained specialists. When
the part-time facilities are closed at night under the current
operational scenario, coverage for those facilities is transferred to
one of the three hub locations. This has been the case for over a year.
Only when pilots call for preflight briefings would they be talking
with one of the consolidated sites. All calls from airborne aircraft
are already talking to a specialist located in one of the three hubs.
Even preflight calls are routed through the Lockheed Martin Flight
Services (LMFS) telephone distribution switch which attempts to assign
the caller to a briefer having the local area knowledge. Where the
briefer is physically located has no bearing on where the call is
directed.
Question 7a. Is this a potential safety issue?
Answer. No. Over the course of the program history and as
facilities have been closed, the local area knowledge was maintained by
moving employees to the hubs, thereby retaining the correct flight plan
area knowledge and expertise. Performance under this model has been
demonstrated successfully and validated through responses to customer
satisfaction surveys. However, through our continued oversight of the
LMFS performance, if it is determined that local area knowledge is
insufficient; steps will be taken to rectify the situation immediately.
Question 7b. How does the contractor test /certify that these
individuals at its hubs who are providing flight services have the
necessary local knowledge for different regions across the country?
Answer. In accordance with Federal Aviation Administration and
National Weather Service (NWS) requirements, LMFS trains flight service
specialists in local flight plan area knowledge. Each specialist must
pass an annual evaluation that measures his or her knowledge and skills
specific to the areas for which he or she is certified. In addition to
the local flight plan area training and evaluation, all flight service
specialists must pass the NWS weather briefing certification process.
Question 7c. Is there an acceptable performance level in the
contract related to this?
Answer. Yes--there is a performance metric (PM) specifically
associated with local area knowledge, called ``Employee Evaluation
Index Score.'' As mentioned above, this PM involves an annual exam that
each specialist must pass for each area for which he or she is
certified. Also, it is a requirement for all flight service specialists
to hold an NWS certification as a condition of employment. All flight
service specialists who have passed the NWS certification process are
authorized to brief within the United States. Specialists receive
mandatory training from LMFS for the specific flight plan area(s)
before they are authorized to brief that area. The FAA verifies the
training documentation and the NWS certification for each specialist as
part of its regular quality assurance/quality control assessments.
During prior consolidations, LMFS employees possessing local area
knowledge have transferred to the hubs, thus allowing these individuals
to log on to the LMFS system and brief calls from any portion of the
continental United States, regardless of their physical location. For
example, an individual from the Seattle Automated Flight Service
Station (AFSS) who transferred to one of the three hubs could be
assigned a call from the Seattle flight plan area if requested by a
caller. That specialist could be physically located in any of the three
AFSS hubs.
Question 7d. If not, should it be included in option one (which the
FAA has to inform the contractor that it wants to exercise by August 4,
2010)?
Answer. As noted, a PM exists to measure local area knowledge. The
FAA continually assesses and evaluates not only the actual performance
metrics and their associated acceptable performance levels (APL) but
also the specific nature of each metric for value-added benefits and
applicability. Over the course of the contract, various modifications
to the PMs/APLs have taken place. If the FAA determines deficiencies
exist or gaps in the performance standards manifest themselves, the FAA
will address these shortfalls in performance through various means
including, but not limited to, additions/modifications of the PMs/APLs.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Claire McCaskill to
Hon. Randolph Babbitt
Question 1. Since 1998 there have been 148 medical helicopter
accidents with 137 fatalities. The NTSB recently found that medical
helicopters comprised 43 percent of all fatal accidents in 2008. When
the NTSB held its hearings in February and recently issued its
recommendations to the FAA, CMS and others, NTSB addressed not only the
avionics, but also the economics of the air medical industry. As I'm
sure you're aware, I've sponsored S. 848 which addresses air medical
medicine, including some economic issues. I fully support FAA's efforts
to address the avionics issues. In light of the NTSB recommendations,
to what extent do you believe that the economic issues should also be
addressed to stop these deadly crashes?
Answer. The Department of Transportation's Office of the Secretary
administers aviation economic regulatory issues. The Department
supports a study in this area. Following introduction of S. 848 and its
companion bill in the House, H.R. 978, DOT received and granted meeting
requests from both supporters and opponents of the proposed
legislation. The Department received diametrically opposed statements
concerning the state of the industry and whether a problem exists in
this area. A study conducted by a neutral party would result in an
objective report on whether a systemic problem exists, and if so, the
nature of any problem identified. DOT suggests that at a minimum, the
report include facts, analysis, and recommendations in the following
areas: (a) the ``state of the industry,'' including information on the
number, size, and location of air ambulance operators and their
relationships with State and local Governments, hospitals, and other
entities; (b) coordination of air ambulance operators with State or
local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems; (c) the nature of air
ambulance operators' service contracts, sources of payment, and costs
of operation; (d) dispatch protocols, and compliance in practice; (e)
current State regulations of air ambulances; (f) whether systemic
problems exist under the current system governing air ambulances, and
if so, the nature of the problems; and (g) the potential impact of
additional State regulation of air ambulances. Both the House passed
and Senate reported versions of legislation to reauthorize the FAA
currently contain proposals to conduct a study of the industry
consistent with these recommendations.
Question 2. Several of the provisions of S. 848 as well as an
amendment that I proposed to the FAA Reauthorization bill would clarify
the areas of air ambulance operations that are medical safety and
service related and thus would clarify that these areas can be
regulated by the states. These include medical qualifications and
training of helicopter personnel, quality of care, proper equipment and
temperature controls, access for transportation of patients, and proper
medical equipment aboard a helicopter. In addition, my amendment would
require the coordination of flight requests and proper communications
between the helicopter and the public safety personnel.
Many states already regulate these areas, including Missouri. In
fact, Missouri regulates far more medical and safety areas than my
amendment does. Missouri law states that air ambulance services must
meet the following requirements:
Documentation that each aircraft has life support equipment
and supplies.
Equipment that allows for reliable communication.
Effective maintenance, storage, usage and replacement of
medical equipment and devices.
Sufficient personnel to meet the mission of a flight.
Proper training to carry out life support procedures.
Proper records, policies and procedures, including a record
of each transport and casualty protocols, and medical control
policies.
Proper training of air medical personnel.
Designated medical director for each air ambulance service.
Proper communications centers and operations, including
systems to assure response to emergency requests and estimated
time of arrival.
Quality improvement program that monitors and reviews the
quality of patient care.
Maintenance of policies and procedures, including safety
programs, standards of care, ambulance operations and
communications.
Certainty for the state as to what they can regulate and what they
cannot in air ambulance operations--based on that which is aviation
safety related and preempted and that which is medically related and
not preempted--would be an important advance in this field. Given that
MO and other states are already regulating these areas, why should we
not clarify that these areas are appropriate and lawful for the states
to regulate? Can you confirm that the FAA believes the Missouri
regulations are lawful and appropriate, as I believe they are?
Answer. I fully recognize the interest States have in ensuring
their residents receive prompt medical treatment from properly
qualified professionals. I also know that an underlying statutory and
regulatory framework is necessary to ensure the provision of such
services. Nevertheless, it is the details of that framework--the
specific language used in statute or regulation and the manner in which
it is actually applied--that determine its appropriateness in any
particular instance. In all instances, however, state medical
regulations that would affect air ambulances must be compliant with FAA
safety requirements.
State regulations must also avoid conflict with the Airline
Deregulation Act of 1978. The Department's long experience with
regulation of air ambulances has shown that State regulations fall
along a continuum ranging from exclusively medical matters on one end,
to economic qualifications on the other. The former are more likely to
be wholly appropriate; for example, those addressing the credentials
and training of medical personnel. The latter much less so, as in the
case of ``certificate of need'' requirements.
DOT/FAA recognizes the need for guidance, however, and for that
reason we have responded to state officials seeking opinions on whether
a state regulation or proposed action conflicts with the FAA's safety
oversight or the Airline Deregulation Act. Such requests include
discussions of the specific regulation and the details of its
implementation and application in a particular scenario. With these
specifics, the experienced professionals in the FAA's office of the
Chief Counsel and the DOT's office of the General Counsel are prepared
to provide assistance.
Question 3. I consulted with the FAA before introducing my
legislation, S. 848, to address the areas of concern that the agency
had in the legislation over the aviation safety regulation of air
ambulances. Are there any recurring issues with S. 848 that the FAA has
with regard to aviation security? If so, what are they?
Answer. Aviation security related issues must be addressed by the
Transportation Security Administration, as TSA is the agency charged
with responsibility for aviation security oversight.