Easternâfly high for a time, then fall into the bog of bankruptcy, reorganization, or hostile takeover. Meanwhile, the surviving carriers look for savings wherever they can find them, and too many find them in their maintenance and training programs. Airframe manufacturers feel the competitive crunch as well. Since 1952, twenty-two new aircraft have been designed, built, and made operational, yet only two of those planes have made money for the companies that built them.
âSo much for deregulation. A second policy threatens the industry just as much, the policy that results from the notion that government is simply a burden upon us all, that it has no role to play in providing for the health and welfare of its citizens. At least as far as aviation is concerned, that proposition is both nonsensical and dangerous.
âAs a result of the presidentâs attitude toward their union, and of the budget cuts he imposed on all levels of government, the ranks of air traffic controllers have thinned to the danger point at a time when the drop in fares has caused traffic to expand beyond the capacities of virtually all airports and air routes. It is not by chance that critical near midairsâwhen aircraft pass within a hundred feet of each otherâhave doubled in the past two years, to the extent that one such incident occurs every other day.
âThe simple fact is, commercial aviation is skating on the edge of disaster. Consider the following:
â1. Because of administration budget cuts, there were only 1,332 Federal Aviation Administration safety inspectors last year, compared with 2,012 in 1979.
â2. In 1978 the FAA employed eleven thousand computer, radar, and systems-maintenance technicians. Today only fifty-five hundred people perform those functions.
â3. There are three thousand fewer airline mechanics servicing seventeen hundred more aircraft than were in the air five years ago.
â4. Although the average age of aircraft flying today is more than a year older than in 1980âmeaning metal fatigue in the frame and skin occurs more frequentlyâthe airlines spend only $69.18 per flight hour on structural maintenance, compared with $76.66 per flight hour in 1980.
âI donât have to tell you the bottom line. In 1985 these forces came together with predictable consequencesâmore than two thousand people lost their lives in air disasters, making it the worst year in aviation history. Fortunately, last year this tragic trend reversed and not one passenger was killed while flying on a major American airline. However, the Aeromexico midair that killed more than eighty persons, including fifteen on the ground, makes the domestic fatality statistic for 1986 less reassuring than it appears.
âAs the chairman noted, my specialty is crashesâtheir causes and their aftermath. Most air disasters can be traced to a specific event, but seldom are the precipitating events the same. In the JAL 747 crash in Japan, the aft bulkhead collapsed because of improper repair work by the manufacturer. In Dallas, a severe wind-shear condition went both undetected and unreported and drove a Delta L1011 TriStar into the ground as it approached the field. Every day, it seems, the papers carry yet another article about a near miss in the skies that threatened a collision like the one that brought down Aeromexico, to the extent that a recent poll of the members of this organization listed a midair collision as their greatest fear.
âBut behind the specific causes of these disasters are general problems that can and must be addressedâneglect, cutbacks, layoffs, shortcuts, delayed implementation of technology. Iâm here to remind you that commercial pilots play an important role in reversing the trends Iâve just referred to. The reason is simple. Without you, the planes donât fly.
âLet me make some suggestions. First, you must expand and energize your air safety
âSo much for deregulation. A second policy threatens the industry just as much, the policy that results from the notion that government is simply a burden upon us all, that it has no role to play in providing for the health and welfare of its citizens. At least as far as aviation is concerned, that proposition is both nonsensical and dangerous.
âAs a result of the presidentâs attitude toward their union, and of the budget cuts he imposed on all levels of government, the ranks of air traffic controllers have thinned to the danger point at a time when the drop in fares has caused traffic to expand beyond the capacities of virtually all airports and air routes. It is not by chance that critical near midairsâwhen aircraft pass within a hundred feet of each otherâhave doubled in the past two years, to the extent that one such incident occurs every other day.
âThe simple fact is, commercial aviation is skating on the edge of disaster. Consider the following:
â1. Because of administration budget cuts, there were only 1,332 Federal Aviation Administration safety inspectors last year, compared with 2,012 in 1979.
â2. In 1978 the FAA employed eleven thousand computer, radar, and systems-maintenance technicians. Today only fifty-five hundred people perform those functions.
â3. There are three thousand fewer airline mechanics servicing seventeen hundred more aircraft than were in the air five years ago.
â4. Although the average age of aircraft flying today is more than a year older than in 1980âmeaning metal fatigue in the frame and skin occurs more frequentlyâthe airlines spend only $69.18 per flight hour on structural maintenance, compared with $76.66 per flight hour in 1980.
âI donât have to tell you the bottom line. In 1985 these forces came together with predictable consequencesâmore than two thousand people lost their lives in air disasters, making it the worst year in aviation history. Fortunately, last year this tragic trend reversed and not one passenger was killed while flying on a major American airline. However, the Aeromexico midair that killed more than eighty persons, including fifteen on the ground, makes the domestic fatality statistic for 1986 less reassuring than it appears.
âAs the chairman noted, my specialty is crashesâtheir causes and their aftermath. Most air disasters can be traced to a specific event, but seldom are the precipitating events the same. In the JAL 747 crash in Japan, the aft bulkhead collapsed because of improper repair work by the manufacturer. In Dallas, a severe wind-shear condition went both undetected and unreported and drove a Delta L1011 TriStar into the ground as it approached the field. Every day, it seems, the papers carry yet another article about a near miss in the skies that threatened a collision like the one that brought down Aeromexico, to the extent that a recent poll of the members of this organization listed a midair collision as their greatest fear.
âBut behind the specific causes of these disasters are general problems that can and must be addressedâneglect, cutbacks, layoffs, shortcuts, delayed implementation of technology. Iâm here to remind you that commercial pilots play an important role in reversing the trends Iâve just referred to. The reason is simple. Without you, the planes donât fly.
âLet me make some suggestions. First, you must expand and energize your air safety
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