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FAA Calls Out 'Systemic' Hazard at United - WSJ Article
Repeated violations regarding pilot qualification, scheduling requirements prompt regulator to step up oversight
By ANDY PASZTOR and SUSAN CAREY
Federal aviation inspectors stepped up oversight of United Continental Holdings Inc. two months ago, citing risks from repeated violations of mandatory pilot qualification and scheduling requirements.
The Federal Aviation Administration's decision was spelled out in a Feb. 6 letter from a high-ranking agency official to United's top safety officer.
The letter, which called for a thorough overhaul of parts of United's process for qualifying crew members, represents the most detailed indication yet of FAA worries about United's internal safety oversight.
The FAA letter, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, followed a safety warning sent in January to United pilots by the airline 's top safety officials.
That warning in January was prompted by four recent and separate "safety events and near misses."
The alleged infractions in the FAA letter don't involve those incidents, but rather cover areas such as pilot records and crew-member qualifications.
The letter doesn't specify the violations, but those terms could mean issues like aviators not undergoing requisite, periodic check rides overseen by examiners within the required time, or the airline lacking records to document completion of such proficiency checks.
The letter also cites problems with scheduling, which could include flying longer than the FAA allows. The FAA approves airlines' systems governing such matters, and carriers are required to comply with those rules.
The No. 2 U.S. airline by traffic said it provided the FAA "a full outline of our corrective actions" on March 25, and considers the situation "resolved."
An FAA spokeswoman said the agency is evaluating the airline's response. She declined to elaborate.
The FAA letter is unusual because the airline previously reported each of the problems on its own. Such disclosures long have been encouraged by the FAA as a way to unearth budding safety problems and have the carriers voluntarily fix them. Airlines and pilots who file such reports typically avoid enforcement actions or other adverse moves by regulators.
In this case, according to the FAA letter, voluntary reports of 12 apparent violations in 13 months stemming "from the same or similar set of circumstances" indicate a "systemic" hazard, requiring United to conduct "a complete review of your processes associated with crew member qualification" and develop an "action plan...to mitigate this hazard."
As a result, the FAA stopped accepting additional voluntary disclosures involving those issues, Hugh Thomas, the agency's principal operations inspector for United, told Michael Quiello, United's vice president for safety, in the letter.
It couldn't be determined if United's fixes have been fully implemented. A United spokeswoman said the FAA didn't take action to design its own system to step up surveillance, as the letter threatened, and that the FAA hasn't proposed any financial civil penalties. She added that United fully supports the FAA-led safety management program.
The FAA spokeswoman declined to say if the voluntary-disclosure ban has been lifted.
The move by the FAA came amid broader pilot problems at United, including discontent among some of its unionized aviators. In the company's internal safety warning in January, it said that personnel shifts affecting pilots-including retirements, new hires, and transfers to different aircraft types-"introduces significant risk to the operation." That letter highlighted incidents including one in which pilots had to execute an emergency pull-up maneuver to avoid crashing into the ground and another in which a plane landed with less than the mandatory minimum fuel reserves.
United said the episodes raised questions about poor cockpit communication and coordination.
Several pilots knowledgeable about safety issues characterized the FAA's February letter as "serious" and one said it was a "wake-up call" for United. They said the airline needs a better process to systematically minimize errors. "The company may be saying this is no big deal, but it's serious," said one of the pilots.
Union leaders of United's 12,000 pilots, who are members of the Air Line Pilots Association union, in recent weeks have raised complaints with the Chicago-based company about issues including pay, training, scheduling, crew meals and alleging "pilot pushing," or encouraging aviators to skirt existing contractual or FAA rules.
In a March 27 memo to United pilots, ALPA leaders called on United to fully comply with the pilot contract approved in December 2012. "Until such time as the company is willing to address their deficiencies in honoring our contract," the union's leadership "will no longer entertain overtures from management to fix their operational problems," the memo said.
United Airlines and Continental Airlines merged in 2010 and the pilots agreed on a first joint labor contract two years later. A merged pilot seniority list was adopted in 2013, a big achievement in joining the two groups and allowing United to mix and match most pilots and planes in its scheduling.
The United-Continental merger has been perhaps the rockiest of the four big ones that have transformed the U.S. airline industry in recent years. United still hasn't reached joint labor contracts with its mechanics and flight attendants, and the melding of its systems in 2012 was widely criticized by customers as poorly handled and disruptive. But integration problems have receded since mid-2013 and United hasn't suffered any more major IT glitches.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/faa-calls-out-systemic-hazard-at-united-1428623965
Repeated violations regarding pilot qualification, scheduling requirements prompt regulator to step up oversight
By ANDY PASZTOR and SUSAN CAREY
Federal aviation inspectors stepped up oversight of United Continental Holdings Inc. two months ago, citing risks from repeated violations of mandatory pilot qualification and scheduling requirements.
The Federal Aviation Administration's decision was spelled out in a Feb. 6 letter from a high-ranking agency official to United's top safety officer.
The letter, which called for a thorough overhaul of parts of United's process for qualifying crew members, represents the most detailed indication yet of FAA worries about United's internal safety oversight.
The FAA letter, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, followed a safety warning sent in January to United pilots by the airline 's top safety officials.
That warning in January was prompted by four recent and separate "safety events and near misses."
The alleged infractions in the FAA letter don't involve those incidents, but rather cover areas such as pilot records and crew-member qualifications.
The letter doesn't specify the violations, but those terms could mean issues like aviators not undergoing requisite, periodic check rides overseen by examiners within the required time, or the airline lacking records to document completion of such proficiency checks.
The letter also cites problems with scheduling, which could include flying longer than the FAA allows. The FAA approves airlines' systems governing such matters, and carriers are required to comply with those rules.
The No. 2 U.S. airline by traffic said it provided the FAA "a full outline of our corrective actions" on March 25, and considers the situation "resolved."
An FAA spokeswoman said the agency is evaluating the airline's response. She declined to elaborate.
The FAA letter is unusual because the airline previously reported each of the problems on its own. Such disclosures long have been encouraged by the FAA as a way to unearth budding safety problems and have the carriers voluntarily fix them. Airlines and pilots who file such reports typically avoid enforcement actions or other adverse moves by regulators.
In this case, according to the FAA letter, voluntary reports of 12 apparent violations in 13 months stemming "from the same or similar set of circumstances" indicate a "systemic" hazard, requiring United to conduct "a complete review of your processes associated with crew member qualification" and develop an "action plan...to mitigate this hazard."
As a result, the FAA stopped accepting additional voluntary disclosures involving those issues, Hugh Thomas, the agency's principal operations inspector for United, told Michael Quiello, United's vice president for safety, in the letter.
It couldn't be determined if United's fixes have been fully implemented. A United spokeswoman said the FAA didn't take action to design its own system to step up surveillance, as the letter threatened, and that the FAA hasn't proposed any financial civil penalties. She added that United fully supports the FAA-led safety management program.
The FAA spokeswoman declined to say if the voluntary-disclosure ban has been lifted.
The move by the FAA came amid broader pilot problems at United, including discontent among some of its unionized aviators. In the company's internal safety warning in January, it said that personnel shifts affecting pilots-including retirements, new hires, and transfers to different aircraft types-"introduces significant risk to the operation." That letter highlighted incidents including one in which pilots had to execute an emergency pull-up maneuver to avoid crashing into the ground and another in which a plane landed with less than the mandatory minimum fuel reserves.
United said the episodes raised questions about poor cockpit communication and coordination.
Several pilots knowledgeable about safety issues characterized the FAA's February letter as "serious" and one said it was a "wake-up call" for United. They said the airline needs a better process to systematically minimize errors. "The company may be saying this is no big deal, but it's serious," said one of the pilots.
Union leaders of United's 12,000 pilots, who are members of the Air Line Pilots Association union, in recent weeks have raised complaints with the Chicago-based company about issues including pay, training, scheduling, crew meals and alleging "pilot pushing," or encouraging aviators to skirt existing contractual or FAA rules.
In a March 27 memo to United pilots, ALPA leaders called on United to fully comply with the pilot contract approved in December 2012. "Until such time as the company is willing to address their deficiencies in honoring our contract," the union's leadership "will no longer entertain overtures from management to fix their operational problems," the memo said.
United Airlines and Continental Airlines merged in 2010 and the pilots agreed on a first joint labor contract two years later. A merged pilot seniority list was adopted in 2013, a big achievement in joining the two groups and allowing United to mix and match most pilots and planes in its scheduling.
The United-Continental merger has been perhaps the rockiest of the four big ones that have transformed the U.S. airline industry in recent years. United still hasn't reached joint labor contracts with its mechanics and flight attendants, and the melding of its systems in 2012 was widely criticized by customers as poorly handled and disruptive. But integration problems have receded since mid-2013 and United hasn't suffered any more major IT glitches.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/faa-calls-out-systemic-hazard-at-united-1428623965
