Posted on 10/22/2007 4:16:54 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized.
NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly.
Just last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers.
(snip)
The AP sought to obtain the survey data over 14 months under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
"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," Luedtke wrote in a final denial letter to the AP. NASA also cited pilot confidentiality as a reason, although no airlines were identified in the survey, nor were the identities of pilots, all of whom were promised anonymity.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Last time I checked the FOIA law, this was not a valid reason to deny a FOIA request.
Normally, I don't like stories with the usual anonymous sources, but because of NASA's reputation for burying ugly reports like this and its history of scapegoating, I can understand why someone would want to blow the whistle on this and not disclose their identity.
Taxpayer funded organization using taxpayer money for the study. The study belongs to us, the taxpayers.
where did the $8.5 million come from?
we were just talking this morning about how when the ban on lighters started it was plaster everywhere, some with flashers on internet sites
now that they are once again allowed (because American airlines were the only ones to ban them), you have to dig hard to find that out.
used expensive lighters taken ended up on ebay and such sites
I think they won’t post that lighters are now allowed again because of the revenue it generated to a few stores in airports that sell them once past security checks
It occurs to me that any story about public safety where the public has to be TOLD about the issues is not particularly noticeable to the public. In other words, whatever “horrors” are being hidden from us are apparently not very harmful.
On the one hand, we paid for the study so let’s hear it. On the other hand, sounds like it would cost us to bail out the airlines. With the credit crisis and gas prices it might just be the last straw for the economy. It all boils down to dollars.
What's wrong with the one they already have -- that cost the taxpayers 8.5 Million?
Discussing NASA's decision not to release the survey data, the congressman said: "There is a faint odor about it all."
A masterpiece of understatement.
And this reeks of "coverup":
NASA directed its contractor Battelle Memorial Institute, along with subcontractors, on Thursday to return any project information and then purge it from their computers before Oct. 30. HEY, ONGRESSMAN!!! GET A COURT ORDER TO STOP THESE JOKERS BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED!!!!
NASA’s budget.
What did the report reveal? According to the AP’s sources, the FAA underreports safety-related incidents by at least half. Bird strikes, near-misses, and runway mishaps occur at least twice as often as official statistics note. The number of last-moment approach changes, which can be particularly dangerous according to the report, also outstrips the FAA reporting.
One NASA official went on record to explain the reluctance to release the findings. Thomas Luedtke, an associate administrator at the agency, claimed that the report would undermine confidence in air travel and could impact industry profits, in his denial letter to the AP. Luedtke also noted that the report did provide a “comprehensive picture of certain aspects of the US commercial aviation system,” a combination of assertions that won’t make anyone feel much safer than the release of the actual report.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/015206.php
Some information must be restricted to government officials only, such as airline safety and TSA efficiency against terrorist threats.
Please calm down and tune your TV to the football or a cooking channel. Your meds will be delivered this afternoon. Be sure to take them with unfiltered tap water.
Keep the faith in Diebold electronic voting. Your elected officials have contributed much effort and taxpayer funding for this new system.
I wonder who killed this : the FAA, the airlines...
Recently, the numbers of retiring controllers are growing ?
Tell ya what. Put cockpit instruments and air traffic control scopes on the back of every seat, and then we can talk.
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