FAA Creates New Safety System: Will It Work?

FAA Chief Defends Cooperation With Airlines

My “Euro-Whiff” Is Better Than Yours

Miami Int’l Making Progress on New Terminal

FAA CREATES NEW SAFETY SYSTEM: WILL IT WORK? - MSNBC
As part of the new system, the FAA will begin notifying top headquarters officials when field inspectors miss airline safety inspections. Within 14 days, the FAA and American Airlines will have to explain to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters why 250,000 U.S. air travelers were hit with canceled flights last week. In order to conduct inspections or correct wiring that should have been completed between September 5, 2006 and March 5, 2008, AA had to ground its MD-80s and cancel 3,100 flights. Peters demanded to know “why so many aircraft had to be grounded and so many travelers had to be inconvenienced” in order to “help us avoid similar disruptions.” Although the new plan will combat some of the main problems riddling the current safety crisis, Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) said, “But the question remains: Will the FAA devote the resources and manpower to get it done right?”

Link: MSNBC

FAA CHIEF DEFENDS COOPERATION WITH AIRLINES – Los Angeles Times
Robert A. Sturgell, acting administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration, recently apologized to passengers stranded by recent flight cancellations, but he warned a Senate subcommittee that overreacting about the FAA’s reliance on voluntarily policing by airlines will cause more problems. “If we return to a ‘gotcha’ approach of decades past— when there were signs in the hangars: ‘Don’t talk with the FAA’—I think we risk driving safety underground,” he said. He believes allowing airlines to police themselves has proven quite successful, and airlines should be responsible for doing their own quality control; however, Senator Patty Murray, (D-Washington) chairwoman of the appropriations transportation subcommittee, said the FAA “has been inconsistent and erratic,” and she has no confidence that Strugell will back his promises to improve safety and oversight.

Link: Los Angeles Times

MY “EURO-WHIFF” IS BETTER THAN YOURS - BBC
An offensive stench detected in various locations of England and Wales is traveling on easterly winds, carrying farm or industrial smells across the Channel. The Met Office has dubbed the swath of stink “Euro-Whiff,” but it’s also referred to as sulfur and manure, and it is being investigated. The BBC News Web site has been inundated with more than 1,000 emails complaining about the odor. Normally, the UK has westerly winds, coming from the Atlantic Ocean. These winds have little or no pollution. The easterly winds are purported to be coming from continental Europe. Most likely, the smell is coming from an area bordered by Holland, Germany and Belgium. Helen Chivers of the Met Office said, “I don’t think there’s any way we will know. The air over that part of Europe has been very stagnant over the past few days, so there won’t be any way of telling where it is coming from.” One reader commented on the BBC News Web site, saying, “It is the sort of smell you can taste.” Sounds like a mighty grand feast.

Link: BBC

TERMINAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT MIAMI INT’L AIRPORT MAKING PROGRESS – Miami Today
The world’s largest airport terminal under construction today has been faced with many challenges. The grand $2.85 billion expansion of the North Terminal at Miami International Airport once lacked clear plans and direction when county Aviation Director Jose Abreu took control of the project in July 2005. The terminal will include 48 international and domestic gates, two regional gates, 242 ticket counters, a baggage claim system with conveyers totaling 9.5 miles that will be able to handle 45,000 bags a day, and more. The terminal, which is a mile long, has left Mr. Abreu with a big headache, as he and his staff sift through 90 construction and professional services contracts for the terminal’s expansion. “We have an awesome challenge,” Mr. Abreu said. “I’m having to go back and explain these contracts one at a time. But explaining this thing is not easy. I give them the good news and the bad news upfront.” Progress, however, continues. Two gates in the North Terminal were opened this month, three more will open later this year, and two more in 2009.

Link: Miami Today

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