A whistleblower from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has alleged that regulators cut corners and neglected safety concerns in an effort to aid Southwest Airlines.
The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints from federal agencies, “Found a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” after reviewing the complaint. It has since granted whistleblower protection status to the complainant.
The whistleblower contends that FAA managers exercised “gross mismanagement and an abuse of authority” for “the financial benefit of the airline”. The report has not been made public, but was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
In the most pointed example of alleged FAA favoritism, the whistleblower alleged that the FAA fast-tracked approval of Southwest’s new Hawaiian routes, neglecting the sort of rigorous testing that is required for two engine jets to travel overwater without emergency airports in the vicinity. Specifically, untrained employees were present during inspection and the whole process was labeled a charade rather than a serious safety inspection.
This all comes as Southwest remains under heightened scrutiny for other violations like failing to keep detailed maintenance records or accurately compute the weight of checked bags.
Motive is still an issue: time will tell if Southwest bribed officials for the expedited approval. For now, Southwest claims the approval process “was deliberate and thorough in following all applicable processes” and took 14 months, hardly a rush job.
CONCLUSION
While there is no link to this complaint the FAA malfeasance surrounding the 737 MAX, both paint a picture of lax regulation with undue influence from airlines or manufacturers. Whoever is to “blame” is not really the issue here. Instead, there is indeed at least circumstantial evidence of mismanagement and abuse of authority…in this case and in others. We must insist upon better.
image: Southwest Airlines
I am shocked and appalled. /s
Interesting that the same people who say “don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence” aren’t jumping in here.
What if the FAA just doesn’t know how to conduct rigorous inspections?
The FAA’s behavior is grotesque. I no longer feel as safe flying in the U.S. as I do flying in the EU. Very sad.
Whistleblower? This is not news! Maybe you look into why a Delta shareholder (current head of the FAA) is holding up the recertification of the Max, and not a false narrative about how SWA gained ETOPS certification amidst a government shutdown! The MCAS scapegoat didn’t bring those planes down. Poor pilot training and third-world regulations did! All MAX operators suffer while Delta gains market share! That’s news! Not some BS story of how a world-class airline followed standard protocol to fly to a new destination.
It took YEARS for Southwest Airlines to get the permits to flight to Hawaii and permits for Specific planes to Flight over water….The even flew empty planes to Honolulu to certified those aircrafts… Hawaiian airlines had the inter island Monopoly. Maybe they had a hand in the pockets of local airports to make it difficult for Southwest. Now they have been forced to lower their prices . Maybe the guy who wrote the article favors Hawaiian
And on another note Allegiant airlines is already running TV commercials here in Hawaii…So they are probably going thru the same process to star flying to Hawaii . Between Alaska and Southwest Hawaiian is feeling the heat another low cost Airline and they will need to stop ripping off the locals that need to flight interIsland . Just paid nearly $300 for a 20 minute flight from Maui to Kona . When they used to advertise a SALE ..that was $79 each way for the 90 miles flight . I am Glad Southwest is here
Never, ever fly Southwest 5 hours over the ocean. Talked to a gate agent with an airline that has operations at a major Southwest airport. She is good friends with so many agents and she said the stories about maintenance regarding southwest were shocking. Maybe a short mainland flight but over the ocean….She said never.