A Catalog Of 91 GAO / OIG Reports, Congressional Hearings, and Media Articles. A History of FAA “Partnership Programs” from 1995 TO 2020. Articles include 46 Office of the DOT Inspector General, 12 Government Accounting Office Reports, and 34 Media Articles. 7 FAA Management Retaliations Against 13 Employees
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FAA Criticisms Mar 2020
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a $295,750 civil penalty against SkyWest Airlines, Inc. of St. George, Utah, for allegedly violating DOT drug and alcohol testing regulations.
The FAA alleges SkyWest failed to include more than 150 safety?sensitive employees in its random drug testing pool. Further, SkyWest allegedly failed to receive verified negative drug test results for two other employees before hiring one for, and transferring the other to, safety-sensitive positions.
The FAA also alleges SkyWest subjected three employees who were not in safety-sensitive positions to post-accident drug tests that are only applicable to safety-sensitive employees, and improperly cancelled a return-to-duty test because it was not directly observed.
SkyWest is scheduled to have an informal conference with the FAA this month to discuss the matter.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined US Airways $1.2 million for failing to provide adequate wheelchair assistance to passengers in Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. The fine is one of the largest ever assessed by DOT in a disability case.
“All air travelers deserve to be treated equally and with respect, and this includes persons in wheelchairs and other passengers with disabilities,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We will continue to make sure that airlines comply with our rules and treat their passengers fairly.”
Under DOT’s rules implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, airlines are required to provide free, prompt wheelchair assistance upon request to passengers with disabilities. This includes helping passengers to move between gates and make connections to other flights.
In one of its periodic reviews of airline compliance with DOT rules, the Department’s Aviation Enforcement Office found that US Airways committed a significant number of violations of the requirements for wheelchair assistance during 2011 and 2012 at Philadelphia International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport. As part of its review, the Enforcement Office examined approximately 300 complaints filed by passengers with the airline and DOT relating to incidents at Philadelphia and Charlotte, which covered only a sample of complaints filed over two years against US Airways for the two airports. The airline’s use of a combination of electric carts and wheelchairs to carry passengers between gates required frequent transfers and led to long delays. Some passengers missed connections because of the delays or were left unattended for long periods of time.
Of the $1.2 million fine, US Airways may use up to $500,000 for improvements in its service to passengers with disabilities that are beyond what DOT rules require. These include hiring managers to ensure the quality of the airline’s disability services in Philadelphia and Charlotte, creating a telephone line to assist these passengers, purchasing tablets and other equipment to monitor assistance requests, providing compensation to passengers with disability-related complaints, and programming the airline’s computers so that boarding passes identify passengers who request special services.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman said that the recommendations issued today by a federal advisory panel dealing with child safety in aviation are a step in the right direction, but they do not go far enough to ensure the safety of the smallest children in airplanes.
The Department of Transportation’s Future of Aviation Advisory Committee (FAAC) presented 23 recommendations to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood today. Among those recommendations was a call that Secretary LaHood utilize the full resources of his office to educate the flying public about the dangers of lap children in aviation. The FAAC also requested that the Secretary to update economic and safety data concerning small children, and to take decisive steps, which may include rulemaking, to address child passenger safety in aviation.
Chairman Hersman stated, “We appreciate the FAAC acknowledging the dangers associated with children flying on their parents’ laps, but we would have preferred to see the FAA be mandated to require that every person including our youngest children be restrained appropriately for their age and size.” She continued, “We know that the safest place for children younger than age two traveling on airplanes is in an appropriate child safety seat. The era of the lap child on airplanes should come to an end.”
The NTSB recently held a Public Forum on Child Passenger Safety in the Air and in Automobiles on December 9, 2010. A webcast of that forum, and presentations and videos concerning child passenger safety are available at www.ntsb.gov/children.
The NTSB will continue its efforts to promote child passenger safety in the coming year through education and advocacy that is aimed toward the caregivers of children, regulatory agencies, and the transportation industry.