When a federal agency has chronic problems, the causes can often be traced to a long-term lack of effective congressional oversight. That appears to be the case with the Federal Aviation Administration. Once the gold standard of competence and excellence, the FAA’s reputation has been sullied in recent years by management blunders and omissions that the aviation agency has shown little willingness to correct. The new House leadership should flex its oversight muscles before approving a new budget authorization bill for the FAA. Five years ago, when the last FAA budget authorization measure was approved, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., was a member of the aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Now that Mica is chairman of the main congressional panel with oversight authority for the FAA, he should summon FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt to Capitol Hill and demand answers to several important questions that directly affect the safety of the flying public:
»?Why, after 17 years, has the FAA still not implemented a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation that commercial airline pilots receive continuous training on how to respond quickly and properly when the cockpit collision-avoidance alarm in their aircraft goes off, especially in light of the record number of errors made by air traffic controllers during the past decade?
