ATW Daily News

Babbitt calls Northwest overfly incident example of pilot professionalism 'problem'

Thursday November 5, 2009

US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt yesterday said there is an "extreme need to refocus on professionalism" among airline pilots, citing the "recent very sad example" of two Northwest Airlines A320 pilots who "lost total situational awareness" and overflew their intended destination of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

FAA last week revoked the licenses of the pilots, who flew 150 mi. past MSP, following the National Transportation Safety Board's release of their comments during interviews with board investigators in which they admitted they "lost track of time" while having a discussion and using their personal laptop computers (ATWOnline, Nov. 3). "It doesn't matter much whether they were using their laptops or reenacting the Lincoln-Douglas debates," Babbitt told the International Aviation Club in Washington. "What they did was wrong" and necessitated immediate license revocation.

Responding to criticism that the pilots' voluntary statements to NTSB were unfairly "exploited," Babbitt said his decision to revoke their licenses was not based on those comments or information they provided as part of the Aviation Safety Action Program, which allows pilots to report safety lapses without fear of punishment. "We used none of the data divulged under ASAP or given to the NTSB," he said. "ATC tapes were the sole source of our information. . .The last thing I want to do is damage the ASAP reporting system."

Babbitt said the incident "is a sign of a much bigger problem" of pilots failing to give "total 100% concentration" while in the cockpit, pointing to the February Colgan Air Q400 crash near Buffalo that killed 50 as another example (ATWOnline, May 13).

"I can't regulate professionalism," he said. "With everything we know about human factors, there are still those who just ignore the common-sense rules of safety." He said FAA will take "a pretty harsh look" at whether cockpit automation has "gotten to a point. . .where we have removed [pilots] so far from the loop" that there is a negative impact on safety.

Babbitt also addressed other issues, including the need to harmonize FAA's NextGen ATC project with Europe's SESAR program. "We have no plans to go it alone," he said. "There will be a heavy emphasis on having a seamless weave between our NextGen and SESAR." He added that during recent visits to Japan and China, he saw evidence of those countries also moving toward ATC modernization.

He also appeared open to a global carbon dioxide tax on passengers that is opposed widely by the airline industry (ATWOnline, Nov. 4), saying, "the idea is wholesome." But he noted that enacting it would be complicated. "The primary issue is who would actually be the taxing authority," he said.

by Aaron Karp

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