New FAA Rule Prohibits Former Inspectors From Taking Jobs With Airlines For 2 Years

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In a recent announcement the FAA confirmed that a new rule has been enacted which specifically prohibits any former FAA Safety Inspector from working for an airline which they had previously been responsible for inspecting. While this does begin to address the issue of close relationships between airlines and FAA inspectors, there is much more that needs to be done in order to fix the problems which have become prevalent in recent years. This rule has been developed in direct response to the lack of inspections done on Southwest Airlines fleet of aircraft.

In that particular situation it was determined that a close relationship between the Southwest safety official and the FAA inspector in charge of handling Southwest’s inspections resulted in a breakdown in the system. As safety inspections are a significant expense for any airline, the less frequently they are done the more money is saved. In this situation it was determined that if the inspections were done at appropriate intervals the problems with the Southwest 737s would have come to light before an in air incident. In this case Southwest Airlines had hired an individual who left his position with the FAA to work with Southwest. Because he had a close relationship with many of the managers and inspectors with the FAA he used this to persuade them to not carry out the necessary inspections. While the new rule is intended to prevent this type of situation, the fact remains that there is an obvious moral and ethical problem within the FAA to allow this to happen in the first place.

As an FAA Inspector, whether or not you have a close personal relationship with an individual working at an airline should not have an impact on your job. These individuals are in charge of the safety of millions of people every year and this is a tremendous responsibility. As such, there is an obvious degree of professionalism which should inherently come with the position. By adopting this new rule the FAA is basically stating that they cannot trust their employees to act in a professional manner and put personal relationships aside. This does not bode well for the FAA and is a sign of the poor overall management quality of the organization. It is interesting to note that the new rule only prohibits former inspectors from working for airlines which they directly worked with in their role with the FAA.

This essentially means that an individual who is a former inspector could work for any airline they did not oversee, before the so called “cooling off” period of 2 years. In this situation they would still have the close relationships with the individuals still working at the FAA and could attempt to use this to benefit their new employer. With this in mind it appears that this rule is nothing more than an attempt to establish a new meaningless regulation that makes it look as though they are taking the matter seriously. It is disheartening that an agency tasked with ensuring the safety of the flying public would even have to write a rule which discourages former employees from trying to leverage their past relationships in an attempt to forgo necessary inspections.

Another issue which was recently addressed by the FAA was the implementation of new safety guidelines regarding the mandatory installation and use of anti-icing devices. The new rule requires aircraft under 60,000 pounds to have ice sensors installed or require airlines operating these aircraft to remind pilots to switch on anti-icing controls much earlier than previously issued guidelines required. Members of the National Transportation Safety Board have been trying to get these rules enacted for years, but some are disappointed that the new regulation does not take further steps to prevent icing problems. As it stands the new rules only apply to aircraft operated by airlines and do not apply to aircraft which weigh more than 60,000 pounds. Safety officials with the NTSB state that these requirements should apply to all aircraft regardless of who owns them and who is operating them.

The new rule relating to FAA safety inspectors is an unfortunate sign of the times we currently live in and how corruption is around us everywhere. The situation involving the lack of inspections for Southwest Airlines fortunately did not result in any loss of life, but it surely could have been the case. The complete disregard for the public’s safety is an unspeakable act committed by the individuals at the FAA who allowed these aircraft to continue operating without having the necessary inspections completed. In fact, these inspectors were responsible for allowing some 60,000 flights to take place without the proper safety inspections. This is a blatant abuse of their position and should have resulted in immediate termination for the individuals involved. Whether or not this is the case cannot be determined as the FAA has not released the name of the individuals involved. The only thing we can do now is to look forward and hope that the current inspectors have learned a valuable lesson from this situation.