quarterly-report.com Political Commentary by James R. Audet

Friday, June 4, 1999
57th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway Island

The crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 late Tuesday night in Little Rock, Arkansas once again reminds us that we are foolish to place our faith in the guarantor of air travel safety, the Federal Aviation Administration.  For the moment, the FAA lurks in the background amid a swirl of unverified conclusions.  The day after the McDonnell Douglas Super MD-80 went down, the weather is advanced as the culprit for the disaster that claimed nine lives.

Winds were gusting to 75 miles an hour when Captain Buschmann, an experienced aviator with 5500 hours as an MD-80 pilot, made his approach to the airport.  It was his second attempt to land.  The MD-80 slid off the runway, crashed into a light tower, and split into three pieces.

The Boeing Corporation was quick to champion the excellent safety record of its aircraft.  American Airlines rushed to the defense of its pilot, a twenty year employee of the company with nearly 10,000 hours in the air.  The tombstone agency was left to claim the nine victims for its cemetery.

The "Failure Is Not Our Business Until It Happens" Agency is a anachronistic lesion of the New Deal.  The FAA is fatally flawed with a congenital conflict of interest to promote both air travel and safety.  The two goals are mutually exclusive.  The FAA's schizophrenic behavior manifests itself in death.

What may lay at the bier of this tragedy is an FAA policy that permits a 14 hour work day for flight crews.  It is a policy that ensures an over-tired pilot.  At the time of the crash, Captain Buschmann  was 13.5 hours into his work day.  It was 10 minutes to midnight.  It was his last flight.  Diverting to another airport would cause him to exceed the FAA's 14 hour limit.  Perhaps, to avoid an FAA violation, to keep the airline happy and his job secure, to get to bed, he gambled.

The accident teaches us not to take off or land in bad weather, especially at night.  If you do, you place your life in the hands of the tombstone agency.

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