Most of the time, most of the world can afford to watch with amusement or bemusement as US politicians work themselves into a frenzy over the latest perceived social ill. It pays not to stand too close, though. As ATR has just found to its cost, Washington public hysteria has a nasty habit of striking more or less indiscriminately. Indeed, as the current fit over airline safety continues, the Franco-Italian consortium may yet find that it is not the only passer-by to be maimed.
The best hope is that the Washington DC "safety summit" represents the final spasm this time and that its 1,000 attendees can go back to doing something more useful. Alas, however, US transportation secretary Federico Pena appears to have acquired a taste for air-safety issues. The attraction, particularly for a member of a domestically unpopular government, is obvious. It is a politician's dream: a "problem" which exists only in the minds of the media and public; which needs other people's money to "fix"; which is superficially amenable to legislation; and, most deliciously of all, for now involves a foreign, rather than domestic, product.
US regional-airline safety is reaching record levels and accident rates in the USA have been driven down to, and held down at, remarkably low figures. Were it not for the self-interested mischief caused by the deceptively named International Airline Passenger Association company, this point alone ought to have seen off the scaremongers. For Pena, though, the confusion is highly attractive. It is a good bet that 1995's safety record will be just as good and that the "problem" will apparently have been solved.
If that were the only consequence, then it would not matter a great deal, but it may not be. Pena's actions have put the safety agenda up for grabs, with results which are unlikely to contribute to safety and may even detract from it. It would be unwise to suggest that aviation safety should be left, without effective oversight, to the industry and its long-standing executive regulators. The record shows, however, that the US Federal Aviation Administration, despite wider internal troubles, has had an effective record on safety over a long period. If anything, its performance has improved lately, with its enhanced tackling of international issues.
There is more - much more - to be done in improving flight-safety standards, especially outside the USA and Europe. The world's emergence from recession and the consequent traffic growth means that the need could scarcely be greater. That costly work, however, will be done with scarce resources and it is crucial that those resources are applied as efficiently as possible. There are much better uses for US knowledge and expertise than wasting it on grandstand events in Washington DC, which are unlikely to provide the sort of sophisticated analysis which will lead to the best way forward.
Coincident with the hysteria over regional safety, the FAA is dealing with the even thornier question of the airworthiness of the Robinson R22/44 helicopters. Its approach to that issue, which does not benefit from Pena's close attentions, is in marked contrast to its peremptory actions against the ATR machines. Associate administrator for regulation and certification Tony Broderick, whose long record suggests ownership of enviably safe hands, coolly declares that he does not, at the moment, see the need to ground the helicopters, despite the worrying accidents which they have suffered. There are, he suggests, smarter ways to skin the cat. Certainly a more sophisticated process seems to be at work in that case.
In the face of all this, it is important that manufacturers and operators do not lose heart. It is, of course, difficult to speak out in the current circumstances for fear of being perceived as being somehow anti-safety. Nevertheless, a degree of coolness under fire is vital if ownership of the safety issue is to be retained by those who understand it.
Source: Flight International
