FAA has some real problems. This and the debacle over the 737 MAX. As a retired A&P all I can say is there’s too much buddy-buddy going on. Never had a problem with FAA because my attitude is they’re “supposed” to keep us on our toes. A house cleaning is in order for safety and the flying public deserves better than all this foolishness. Cronyism.
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No shit. All of us were taught that when you retract those round things the airplane rolls on you said, as one word, “Positive rate, gear up”. Not at Southwest. Most airlines, if given a visual approach still call up an instrument procedure and still turn final outside the Final Approach Fix, not at Southwest. And when one of our F/Os was told, “You AirTran guys, you always go to the f*** marker.” He’s response, "Yeah, we don’t land at the wrong airport either.
This is not surprising, I would like to see if there were any exchanges of goods, materials, or perks from SW to the FAA. People do not turn a blind eye for free. Next we will see the FAA guy was referred to by SW as “The big guy.”
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It’s kind of obvious even to the casual observer. The higher level FAA executives are receiving favors ($) from SW and then they tell the field FAA inspectors everything is OK. Follow the money - same old story - nothing new under the sun.
Since SWA knows more about 737’s than the FAA, I’m sure that it’s “intimidating” for inspectors to be routinely schooled on knowledge of the aircraft.
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Must be something missing here. Did not read any specifics in the “report”.
Commentors have some inside information?? Landing at the wrong airport
does not sound like an FAA inspection issue, egregious though it is. It would not
be at all surprising if Southwest DOES know more about the 73 than does the FAA.
>> A house cleaning is in order
It’s almost impossible to do a house cleaning in a federal agency. Civil service rules won’t permit getting rid of people merely becase they don’t do a good job.
How many FAA employees become SWA employees or consultants on retirement from the government?
What happened to the policy that was implemented about 10 years ago which rotated inspectors to different airlines after a period of time. That was done back when American was caught with maintenance issues on the MD80. It was also done with pt135 operators also. As Richard B. posted, a real housecleaning starting at the top is way overdue.
Any airline that thinks a 737-200 and a 737-800Max are they same aircraft type is an airline I don’t want to fly on. Of course I also don’t like downwind landing at Burbank, especially if the runways are wet.
The FAA is so busy with important issues like paralyzing unleaded avgas development, and finding the right gender, color and sexual orientation of employees they simply cannot be bothered with the old rules and job mandates. And as others have said, no matter how lazy or incompetent a government employee may be, it is nearly impossible to get rid of them.
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Hey Elton and Dale,
Missing the point here. Typical culture war comments knee jerk blaming “government employees who can’t be fired”. The government employees were FAA inspectors trying to do their jobs and became whistleblowers. Instead, the corruption was by the politically appointed FAA brass at the top who ran interference.
It’s a different civil service these days as the previous administration made it easier to fire. So easy, that a boss can threaten to fire and mean it if the employee doesn’t overlook something the boss says is ok. That way, the boss can get someone else to take the blame for his corruption. The only recourse today is for the employee to blow the whistle on the situation. That can be a risky move as people usually knee jerk blame the messenger/victim.
Not only missing the point, but missing who to blame. Did you vote for the administration that appointed Dan Elwell and Steve Dickson? Were you stockholders who voted for the SWA board members that hired Gary Kelly?
“We have met the enemy and he is us”, Pogo. Blame your greedy selves.
And yet for all this malfeasance, Southwest is in the world’s top 20 for safety, ahead of Delta, American, United, Lufthansa and Finnair. Whoda thunkit?
The previous administration is the one that cozied-up…not the present one, which is investigating and trying to clean house….but, of course,…we’re too busy blaming and denigrating Pete B. to see thru the homophobic B.S.
The popular-belief that “gov’t employees can’t be fired” doesn’t know and ignores the truth. They are quite capable of being fired as well as “blamed”. Those that promote such B.S. ignore their own claims that those gov’t employees say “No” to avoid responsibility instead of approving such things as lead-free gas, for example. You can’t have it Both Ways!
I personally witnessed a blatant FAA example of FAA personnel favoring SouthWest. While taxying out at DAL at night I was nearly run-over by a dark corp-jet taxying with NO EXTERNAL lights. I only was able to avoid collision because I noticed a “black” shadow passing between my aircraft and downtown skyscraper lights. I hit the brakes and corp-jet continued toward the rwy and rec’d immediate takeoff clearance (having overheard my radio msg/compaint to ground that I was nearly hit by a corp-jet with no external lighting. DAL combined tower/ground ctrl dismissed the complaint and cleared the now-illuminated corp-jet for takeoff. I asked DAL to take action…no response.
At that very moment a landing SWA exiting a rwy …without slowing or waiting for taxi clearance…continued onto my taxiway… SWA exclaiming “Well…WE think YOU DO A GREAT JOB!”
DAL gnd thanked SWA for the compliment and refused to rebuke the departing corp-jet for operating without nav or beacon lites!
(FAA/ATC often get jumpseat, passes or other gratuities/favors (drinks etc) on SWA. )
(The point being that SWA rec’d immediate use of the taxiway ahead of others and myself instead of the official “first come-first served.”
Homophobic? Pete B is a political hack following a progressive agenda that will fail. Has nothing to do with his sexual preference. Trying to blame Trump just shows where you are coming from. I don’t see anyone blaming this on the current president. I sincerely doubt a corporate jet was travelling at night lights out and not under ground control. Your story smells of someone with an agenda.
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Well that is the current administration’s priorities. Not actually getting useful things done.
Look at Southwest’s safety record. I think that speaks for itself. Also they run a great airline, never have issues with them (At least precovid). In fact we selected places to go on vacation by checking if they serviced those areas.
Lax airline oversight but watching like a hawk for any non-stc approved back up instrument installs in a C-172. Priorities you know.
Nailed it. You can trash government as long as you limit your comments to the Trump administration. Its’ a crime to criticize the current fools in government who simply redefine words to fit their narrative. New definitions for women, men, border security, recession, etc, etc.
Just out of curiosity do you remember who was the previous Secretary of Transportation? I’ll give you a hint, she’s married to Mitch McConnell. She was born in China and is a millionaire. Her family’s shipping company does almost all of its business with China. She been getting political appointments since the Reagan administration. Does that make her a political hack?
This truly doesn’t have anything to do with the inspectors but the management of the certificate from the FAA is the one that gives into their bullying.