[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1267-S1268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            AVIATION SAFETY

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, the White House Commission on Aviation 
Safety and Security is going to present its recommendations to the 
President today, and I commend the commission for its work and support 
most of its recommendations.
  Aviation safety should be a prominent feature on the list of 
bipartisan issues upon which we can find common ground this year. There 
are 22,000 commercial flights every day in the United States. The 
American air traffic control system served 550 million passengers last 
year. Mr. President, in my home State of North Carolina, 22 million 
people last year passed through the Charlotte airport.
  The safety of literally millions of Americans hangs in the balance of 
our commitment to aviation modernization. I have a rather personal 
interest in this issue. I was in a plane crash in 1983 and wound up in 
a lake surrounded by fire in an airplane without wings.
  I want to stress the importance of the commission's call for rapid 
modernization of our air traffic control system. These efforts to 
upgrade the system will necessitate certain costs, and no one in this 
city is more concerned about the taxpayers than I, but the system is 
decades old and on the verge of collapse.
  Mr. President, one of the better-kept secrets around Washington seems 
to be the $1.4 billion that we have squandered on a failed effort to 
upgrade the aviation computer network over the last several years. IBM 
worked for years to create a modern air traffic control computer system 
and spent more than $1 billion of the taxpayers' money. The exact 
figure is unclear, but the contractors think--they think--that they 
will be able to salvage some of this work--some of it--as the process 
starts anew.
  The system at O'Hare Airport in Chicago includes computers that are 
more than 30 years old, and, as you know, its failures leave some air 
traffic control personnel with blank screens. The lives of the 
passengers are in the hands of air traffic controllers hobbled by a 
system that is both inadequate and obsolete.
  The Federal Government called for installation of a Doppler radar 
system to detect wind shear at airports around the country. However, 
Mr. President, the system is operative at just a few airports. This 
Congress maintains an obligation to the air passengers of this country. 
Clearly, this obligation is not yet met, and too much money has been 
wasted.
  As a member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, I 
intend to keep a keen eye on the dollars as I always do, but I also 
want to see a cost-effective modernization of the system. We owe a safe 
system to the taxpayers. Their tax dollars are paying for it, and they 
are entitled to it, and they need it. It is incomprehensible that the 
computers at one the busiest airports in the world can go blank. This 
is a condition that boggles the mind.
  I believe the hiring policies of airline companies and airports also 
merit serious thought. The airlines need to be certain that the people 
who service and maintain airplanes do not have questionable 
backgrounds. These security issues are critical to the safety of the 
American flying public.
  There are other safety concerns of note. The American airplane fleet 
is aging. We need to ensure that inspections are thorough and frequent 
on these older aircraft. There is nothing wrong with an older airplane, 
but it needs to be inspected and updated, lest problems go undetected 
and new technologies go unused.
  We need to take these and other steps to ensure that the American air 
traveler is safe. We can ensure safe skies without excessive 
inconvenience and delay, and, Mr. President, I am committed to just 
that.

[[Page S1268]]

  I thank the Commission for its efforts. I look forward to working 
with my colleagues and the administration to implement some of these 
recommendations.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.

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