[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6204-S6205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Klobuchar):
  S. 1193. A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance 
aviation safety, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleague, 
Senator Klobuchar, to introduce legislation that I believe continues to 
be crucial in the effort to improve aviation safety. Before I begin, I 
want to recognize the deliberate and unflagging efforts of Senator 
Klobuchar, whose commitment to improve the safety of commercial 
aviation in this country is so admirable.
  We all remember last spring's news: a U.S. carrier continued flying 
aircraft even though critical safety checks involving cracks in their 
fuselages had not been performed on approximately 50 jets. In fact, an 
independent review concluded that these flights potentially endangered 
over six million passengers. What was the punitive or disciplinary 
action taken against the inspector who condoned--in fact, encouraged--
those aircraft to continue flying? Nothing. The PMI, or supervising 
inspector, continued in his role. Also, as many of you will recall, 
last April, American Airlines cancelled nearly 2,000 flights in order 
to catch up on inspections of aircraft wiring--inspections that should 
have been performed previously under its agreement with the FAA.
  This startling news was compounded by a Department of Transportation 
Inspector General's report in June disclosing so-called safety 
inspectors are turning a blind eye to violations. Now, according to a 
New York Times article dated June 4, an inspector reported to his 
superiors that Colgan Air had been having trouble with their most 
recent purchase, the Bombardier Q400. The same aircraft that crashed 
outside of Buffalo, New York this past March. What did his superiors do 
with this information? They transferred the inspector to a different 
job, and reportedly buried the report.
  The FAA's overarching role is to serve as a protector of the public 
trust; not as a public relations and management tool for the commercial 
airlines. What I find most offensive throughout these reports is the 
willingness by the FAA to ignore safety concerns or inspection 
violations, to presume that due to the tremendous level of success 
regarding safety protections for so long, they no longer are required 
to follow the procedures that created that high level of safety, 
instead, as the Inspector General's report indicated, they want to 
``avoid a negative effect on the FAA'' by enforcing those measures.
  That is why Senator Klobuchar and I are committed to closing the 
revolving door between the airlines and the FAA. We need to codify our 
safety expectations into law and hold anyone who tries to undermine the 
integrity of the safety process accountable. By establishing a cooling-
off period so that FAA inspectors cannot immediately go to work for an 
airline they used to inspect, and demanding that the FAA establish a 
national review team of experienced inspectors to conduct periodic, 
unannounced audits of FAA air carrier inspection facilities will 
guarantee that aircraft inspections are carried out in a rigorous and 
timely fashion. The American people, not the airlines, are the primary 
responsibility of the FAA. It is my hope that these provisions will 
assist in returning the FAA to their core mission: safety.

[[Page S6205]]

                                 ______