[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 64 (Thursday, May 15, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2775-H2776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE FAA AND AIRLINE SAFETY

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, this past Sunday was Mother's Day and it was a 
day to give thanks for our mothers and praise them and honor them. But 
this past Sunday also was an important day to many in this Nation, but 
for a more sinister reason. It was the one-year anniversary of the 
ValuJet crash.
  It was a crash that could have been avoided, Mr. Speaker, with either 
smoke detectors and fire suppression systems or by prohibiting armed 
oxygen canisters in some cargo holds. Transporting armed oxygen 
canisters in unreachable holds is unlawful today, but as the recent 
Continental Airlines incident indicates, the FAA's enforcement of these 
regulations is weak.
  The NTSB has recommended after the ValuJet crash that the FAA 
promulgate rules requiring the installation of smoke detectors and fire 
suppression systems. Similarly, NTSB made an urgent recommendation in 
December following the TWA Flight 800 crash.
  Today I am calling on the FAA to quickly, quickly promulgate and 
implement regulations regarding the use of smoke detectors and fire 
suppression systems in all passenger aircraft, as well as fuel tank 
recommendations of the NTSB. Every Member of Congress who flies an 
airplane or who represents anybody who flies an airplane ought to be 
putting pressure on the FAA.

                    [From the LA Times, May 6, 1997]

                    Snail's Pace in Airliner Safety

       FBI Director Louis J. Freeh has reiterated an idea 
     expressed by some federal officials since late last year: 
     that it was a catastrophic mechanical failure that brought 
     down TWA Flight 800 last July, killing all 230 aboard.
       ``The evidence is certainly not leading in the direction of 
     a terrorist act, It is in fact moving in the other 
     direction,'' Freeh said on a television news show Sunday. But 
     he stressed that no official conclusion on the cause of the 
     TWA disaster has been reached.
       Such a slow pace is not unusual in these matters. It took 
     two years, for example, to officially rule that a bomb had 
     caused the explosion of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 
     in 1988.
       Even without a final report, you might think that 
     corrective action would occur quickly. After all, the 
     National Transportation Safety Board, and now Freeh, has 
     emphasized the possibility that Flight 800 disintegrated 
     because a spark ignited a volatile air-fuel mixture in its 
     central fuel tank.
       Well, here's the snail's-pace chronology that followed the 
     ``urgent'' NTSB recommendations on Dee. 13 for changes that 
     it said could prevent an explosion of this kind: The Federal 
     Aviation Administration had 90 days to respond and announced 
     in February that it would issue a notice for public comment 
     in the Federal Register within 30 days. The notice finally 
     appeared in April, at which point another 90-day period 
     commenced. This means that the recommendations cannot be 
     acted on until July.
       The Clinton administration and Congress ought to find a way 
     to shorten this process. If a streamlined process had been 
     mandatory, the implementation of one or more of the changes 
     to prevent central fuel tank explosions in more than 1,000 
     active U.S. commercial jets might already be underway.

[[Page H2776]]

     
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     [From the Information Services Newswire Search, May 14, 1997]

          Banned Oxygen Canisters Hauled on Continental Flight

                           (By Eun-Kyung Kim)

       Washington (AP)--Federal investigators are trying to 
     determine how a Continental Airlines passenger jet ended up 
     carrying seven oxygen canisters in its cargo hold, a practice 
     outlawed following last year's ValuJet crash.
       ``We take this very seriously and we're investigating it 
     thoroughly,'' Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the Federal 
     Aviation Administration, said Tuesday.
       The oxygen generators, secured by safety caps, were in a 
     shipment of airline materials found by Continental workers 10 
     days after the flight to Houston from Los Angeles.
       ``With the caps, they were not in danger of going off,'' 
     Brenner said. The canisters were not listed as part of the 
     shipment, he said.
       The FAA reported the flight took place on April 15, but the 
     airline said it was a day later.
       Chemical oxygen generators were banned as cargo in 
     passenger planes shortly after ValuJet Flight 592 crashed 
     into the Florida Everglades, killing all 100 people on board. 
     Investigators believe the May 11, 1996, disaster was caused 
     by a fire fueled by poorly packaged oxygen generators.
       Air transport of the generators is now restricted to 
     compartments in cargo planes that the crew can reach during 
     the flight.
       Houston-based Continental issued a statement Tuesday saying 
     the disarmed generators were shipped accidentally by a vendor 
     who failed to disclose they were hazardous.
       ``The airline immediately reported this occurrence to the 
     FAA when the shipment was discovered. In addition to our own 
     internal audit, Continental is working closely with the FAA 
     in its investigation to determine how this shipment 
     happened,'' the statement said.
       Continental spokeswoman Karla Villalon declined to identify 
     the vendor, saying it is under investigation. She did not 
     know how many people were aboard the plane.
       Continental, the vendor and its shipping agent could face 
     millions of dollars in fines if investigators conclude 
     hazardous material laws were violated, Brenner said.
       Jim Hall, the chairman of the National Transportation 
     Safety Board, said the incident illustrated the need to 
     install smoke detectors and fire suppression equipment in the 
     cargo compartments of all passenger airliners.
       ``What this incident shows is that no matter what 
     regulations are passed, the threat of inadvertent placement 
     of hazardous materials on aircraft will always be with us,'' 
     Hall said in a letter to Carol Hallett, president of the Air 
     Transport Association of America.
       Hall voiced similar concerns in a letter Monday to 
     Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.
                                  ____


     [From the Information Services Newswire Search, May 15, 1997]

        Airlines to Install Cargo Area Fire Suppression Systems

                        (By Randolph E. Schmid)

       Washington.--A year after the fiery crash of ValuJet Flight 
     592 the nations airlines are moving towards installing 
     firefighting equipment in their cargo holds.
       But it could take years for all of the nation's airliners 
     to be protected.
       The Air Transport Association announced Wednesday that the 
     airlines will begin installing the fire suppression 
     equipment, perhaps as early as this fall if government 
     approvals can be completed.
       But getting the devices into all 3,000 airliners in service 
     could take four to five years, said Carol Hallett, president 
     of the airline trade group.
       The Federal Aviation Administration, however, is planning 
     to complete a rule by the end of the year that will require 
     the installations within three years, according to 
     Transportation Department spokesman Bill Schulz. Already one 
     airline, Atlanta-based Delta, is moving ahead on its own, he 
     added.
       Hallett said the installations take 200 man-hours or more 
     each and will be scheduled when airliners go in for major 
     maintenance, generally every 18 months to three years. She 
     estimated that it will cost about $400 million to install the 
     systems.
       No final determination has been made on the cause of the 
     ValuJet crash last May 11 in Florida's Everglades, killing 
     all 110 aboard. But investigators believe that the disaster 
     resulted from a fire fueled by oxygen generators carried in 
     the plane's hold.
       The airlines had agreed to install smoke detectors last 
     December at a meeting with Vice President Al Gore, but were 
     reluctant to commit to the additional fire suppression 
     systems because of fear that the chemical halon would be 
     banned, Hallett said.
       But on Tuesday the ATA received a letter from the 
     Environmental Protection Agency advising that, if the systems 
     are installed, halon will be allowed to remain in use for the 
     life of the plane.
       Based on that assurance, Hallett said, the airlines decided 
     to go ahead with the program.
       The project covers the cargo containers beneath passenger 
     compartments, used to carry luggage. These so-called ``Type 
     D'' compartments are sealed and airlines have assumed that 
     any fire that broke out would be extinguished by lack of 
     oxygen. In the ValuJet case, however, the oxygen generators 
     helped fuel the blaze.
       The ATA announcement comes just a day after disclosure that 
     similar banned oxygen cylinders were recently carried aboard 
     a Continental jet.
       The generators, secured by safety caps, were in a shipment 
     of airline materials found by Continental workers 10 days 
     after the flight to Houston from Los Angeles. There was no 
     fire in this case.

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