NASA: Not Allowed to Sully the Airlines

[SteveLaura 0]

New York Times

The Associated Press spent more than a year filing Freedom of Information Act requests for the results of a NASA survey of thousands of pilots, which was completed in 2005 but never released. Why not? A senior NASA official’s reason was straightforward enough: The information might scare people away from flying.

"Release of the requested data, which are sensitive and safety-related, could materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of, the air carriers and general aviation companies whose pilots participated in the survey."

On Monday, The A.P. brought us that gem of a government demurral, along with the essence of the concealed study, which has since been confirmed by two people who spoke to The New York Times: “Safety events” — aviation accidents, near misses and significant lapses — happen a lot more often than the Federal Aviation Administration has estimated.

The F.A.A. is now in damage-control mode, telling The Times that “some problems covered by the questionnaire were becoming less severe,” thanks in part to big advances in runway safety, which spurred another stream of aviation safety news on Monday.

NASA came in for severe criticism on Capitol Hill, with one House leader comparing the agency to “a drug manufacturer finding out through trials that there are problems with a drug and not making the public aware because they don’t want to reduce the sales of the drug or scare the public,” according to The Washington Post. Air safety experts quoted in the article were equally aghast.

Another key quadrant of reaction seemed to be off the charts as well: Web comments. Slashdot’s headline referenced the cover-up: What NASA Won’t Tell You About Air Safety. But many of the comments that followed doubted that the aviation safety study was cause for alarm, agreeing with the F.A.A.

A batch of comments at the San Francisco Chronicle contained a good example of the feeling that the cover-up may be worse than the crime:

"While there may be occasional safety lapses, there have been virtually no fatal crashes among major American carriers in years. Personally, I am not very concerned, because no pilot would fly in a situation or an aircraft they did not consider to be absolutely safe. Inevitably, when airplanes crash, pilots get there first."

And another mocked the agency, which is better known for its space program but also has aeronautics as part of its mission. “NASA: Not Allowed to Sully the Airlines,” the comment said.

Alas, a serious debate on what the data mean for aviation safety cannot take place until the survey itself is released. Meanwhile, it appears to be open season on NASA and its less-than-transparent moment.

[pedroh 21]

i know the probability of a plane crash is relatively low.. but I'd like to know..

[Kevin and 10]

NASA and the ISS another blackhole to throw money down.

Spend money on a study that they are afraid to release.

[almaty 19]

i agree...let the people know

[eric&gen 0]

Maybe they are afraid to release the information it might cause the airlines to loose business.