TRANSPORTATION - BTS - Bureau of Transportation Statistics

In the early 1970s, the aviation industry did not have a good safety record, prompting criticismof Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policies. In January 1975, Claude S. Brinegar,the Secretary of Transportation (1973–1975), appointed a special 10-person Task Force on theFAA Safety Mission to examine FAA’s organizational structure, management, and performanceon safety issues. In April 1975, during Secretary William T. Coleman’s administration, thetask force made recommendations to the FAA that enabled the FAA to improve its organizationalefficiency and expedite rulemaking procedures [USDOT FAA OPA 2000]. These improvementsallowed the FAA to address some of the most challenging aspects of aviationsafety—issues that would remain at the forefront of FAA programs during the next 25 years.Some of the issues addressed by FAA since 1975 are described in the following paragraphs.Altitude Safety: The FAA examined landing approach procedures following the December1974 crash of a Boeing 727 into a mountain near Berryville, Virginia, while on approach intoDulles International Airport. Soon after the crash, the FAA implemented higher standards byspecifying pilot responsibilities for maintaining safe altitude and specifying the role of airtraffic controllers in maintaining pilots’ awareness of altitude restrictions.The agency also expedited work on a technological solution by requiring installation of aGround Proximity Warning System (GPWS) on large airliners. The system provided bothvisual and audible warning signals if an aircraft descended too close to the ground. All majorairlines were in compliance with the GPWS rule by the end of 1976. In March 1992, the rulewas extended to turbine-powered aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats flown by air taxiand commercial operators. More recently, the FAA and industry have taken steps to equipairliners with more advanced terrain awareness warning systems.Rapid Decompression Standards: In July 1975, the FAA raised standards requiring widebodyjets to withstand the effects of rapid decompression. Concern about aircraft airworthinesswas prompted by the March 1974 crash in France of a Turkish Airlines McDonnellDouglas DC-10 wide-body airliner, killing all 346 people on board in the worst air disaster upto that time. In this incident, a cargo door of the jet opened in flight, producing explosivedecompression that disabled vital flight-control cables. This series of events led to a broaderuse of FAA airworthiness directives to ensure in-flight safety of aircraft systems.Separation Standards: Also in 1975, the FAA increased the standard of distance separationfor small aircraft landing behind larger aircraft that are capable of generating wake turbulence.Depending on the size of the lead aircraft, the new procedures required a separation ofeither four or six miles for the trailing plane. In the 1990s, the FAA modified these standardsto give added protection from wake turbulence to small aircraft traveling behind theBoeing 757.Structural Safety: As the service lives of commercial aircraft are extended, greater focus hasbeen placed on the safety of aging aircraft. This problem was highlighted by a 1988 incidentin which structural fatigue caused the opening, in mid-flight, of an 18-foot gap in the fuselageof an Aloha Airlines plane. One cabin attendant was ejected from the aircraft by the force ofdecompression. The FAA responded with a new approach to aging aircraft—replacement ofmandatory inspections with preventive modifications for high-service airliners and thereplacement of certain parts after a specified number of flight hours or takeoff-and-landingcycles.Fire Safety: In March 1977, the full destructive potential of post-crash fire—and the need forhigher standards and new technology—was revealed when a fiery runway collisioninvolving a Dutch and a U.S. airliner produced history’s worst airline incident at Tenerife,Canary Islands. That incident claimed the lives of 583 passengers and crew. The FAA’s3-42