Federal report: FAA covers up air traffic control mistakes at DFW
Concerns about air traffic control safety are being raised after a recently released federal report. The report by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel accuses the Federal Aviation Administration of covering up mistakes by air traffic controllers at Dallas/Fort Worth and even alleges the agency has shifted blame for such mistakes to pilots, The Associated Press reports. AP says the Office of Special Counsel is "an independent investigative agency responsible for protecting government whistle-blowers. The office's report renewed accusations that were made in 2005 but, according to the investigator, never fixed."
"We're talking about a culture of fraud," U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch is quoted as saying by The Dallas Morning News. "It's a pretty shocking saga of what is going on down there." Bloch is quoted by AP as saying that if the violations are not addressed, "eventually you're going to have an air crash." The FAA, however, does not necessarily agree with the findings. In a statement quoted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ,the FAA says it has "a robust audit system in place to ensure that all air traffic controller errors are reported and are correctly classified in Dallas and at every other air traffic facility in the country."
As for the air traffic controllers' union, spokesman Doug Church says any shortfalls in accurately reporting errors would be the fault of managers, and not controllers, according to AP. And Pilots at AA –- the top carrier at DFW -– tell AP they're taking the federal report seriously. "As pilots, we're concerned any time the actions of air traffic controllers or FAA management might affect the safety of our flying," says Denis Breslin, a spokesman for the union that represents AA's pilots.
It made the 10 pm news here last night. For the local news to report ANYTHING negative about DFW airport must mean that it was actually worse than we know.
They did recount one example from the report where a cockpit declared an emergency due to low fuel--didn't know if they had a leak or not. Seems when he asked permission to land immediately, the air traffic controller got into an argument with him about "waiting his turn" to land. He landed anyway and ran out of fuel while taxiing to the terminal. Had to be towed the rest of the way.
