Federal Aviation Administration
 Federal Aviation Administration     | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | August 23, 1958 |
| Parent organization | US/Department/Transportation |
| Interest of | Rodney Stich |
| Exposed by | Bogdan Dzakovic |
| The FAA regulates and oversees all aspects of American civil aviation. | |
Regulatory Capture
The FAA is been cited as an example of regulatory capture, "in which the airline industry openly dictates to its regulators its governing rules, arranging for not only beneficial regulation but placing key people to head these regulators."[1] Retired NASA Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent Joseph Gutheinz, who formerly was a Special Agent with both the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and FAA Security, is one of the most outspoken critics of FAA. Rather than commend the agency for proposing a 10.2 million dollar fine against Southwest Airlines for its failure to conduct mandatory inspections in 2008, he was quoted as saying the following in an Associated Press story: "Penalties against airlines that violate FAA directives should be stiffer. At $25,000 per violation, (which is how the 10.2 million dollar figure was reached) Gutheinz said, airlines can justify rolling the dice and taking the chance on getting caught. He also said the FAA is often too quick to bend to pressure from airlines and pilots."[2] Other experts have been critical of the constraints and expectations under which the FAA is expected to operate. The dual role of encouraging aerospace travel and regulating aerospace travel are counter intuitive. For example, to levy a heavy penalty upon an airline for violating an FAA regulation which would impact their ability to continue operating would not be considered encouraging aerospace travel.
On July 22, 2008, in the aftermath of the Southwest Airlines inspection scandal, a bill was unanimously approved in the House to tighten regulations concerning airplane maintenance procedures, including the establishment of a whistleblower office and a two-year "cooling off" period that FAA inspectors or supervisors of inspectors must wait before they can work for those they regulated.[3][4] The bill also required rotation of principal maintenance inspectors and stipulated that the word "customer" properly applies to the flying public, not those entities regulated by the FAA.[3] The bill died in a Senate committee that year.[5]
In September 2009, the FAA administrator issued a directive mandating that the agency use the term "customers" only to refer to the flying public.[6]
References
- ↑ Steven M. Davidoff, "The Government’s Elite and Regulatory Capture" The New York Times (June 11, 2010). Retrieved April 11, 2011
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedap-mailtrib/msnbc - ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedainonline - ↑ Library of Congress, Thomas Official Website Bill Summary & Status 110th Congress (2007 - 2008) H.R.6493
- ↑ Library of Congress, Thomas Official Website Bill Summary & Status 110th Congress (2007 - 2008) S.3440
- ↑ "FAA will stop calling airlines 'customers'" Reuters, USA Today (September 18, 2009). Retrieved October 17, 2009
