FAA Inspectors and Southwest Airlines Whistleblowers Testify that Safety Violations Were Ignored

By Aaron Poehler

Published on April 03, 2008

Today's hearing exposed a climate of conspiratorial behavior between the FAA and Southwest in which federal inspectors reporting safety problems at the airlines were threatened with demotion or firing and whistleblower employees at the airline reporting lapsed inspection were not protected from retaliation. Numerous FAA and Southwest whistleblowers told of being threatened, demoted, or removed from their duties after attempting to address problems within the agency or hold the airline to its safety obligations.

Southwest has been accused of flying tens of thousands of flights without performing required inspections of the fuselage skin of their planes. The FAA levied a $10.2 million fine against the airline last month after documents indicated at least 117 planes were flown repeatedly without mandatory safety checks.

Committee chairman James L. Oberstar of Minnesota sharply criticized the quality of FAA supervision, characterizing it as among the worst examples of aviation safety oversight, and indicated that the FAA has lost sight of its mission to maintain passenger safety.

In a related note, Southwest announced that it has suspended plans to outsource a significant percentage of its maintenance work to El Salvador due to the intense scrutiny being placed on the carrier's maintenance and inspection operations.

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