The Federal Aviation Administration Wednesday announced it will make public its records on serious airline safety and security violations, including near mid-air collisions.
Violations to be made public will include those resulting in penalties of $50,000 or more, as well as serious violations not resulting in as large a fine. The information will be available, in "user-friendly" form, on the FAA Web site and through a toll- free 800 number.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., had urged the FAA to make airline safety records more accessible to the public. Currently, those who want to see airline safety records must file a Freedom of Information request, which Wyden said "is not exactly convenient or cheap."
Wyden, who took credit at a news conference for the FAA's new openness, said he had advocated merely public release of the safety information, not an airline safety ranking or grading system. The airlines strongly lobbied against such a system.
"I'm a little bit skeptical that one can put together a grading or ranking system on an objective basis," Wyden said.
The media and consumer safety groups, he said, likely will use the information for news reports and their own rankings.
Wyden said the FAA consent order that grounded ValuJet last summer detailed 34 specific safety violations, including delayed maintenance, failure to repair jammed landing gear, cabin doors that would not lock, and a weather radar system on one aircraft that was recorded as inoperative in 31 separate inspections.
"Shortly, this type of information will be available online," Wyden said.
In announcing the FAA's plan Wednesday, Linda Hall Daschle, the FAA's acting administrator, said the move demonstrates the Clinton administration's "uncompromising commitment to improving aviation safety," the Associated Press reported.
NEXT STORY: DOE Still in Crosshairs