Inspectors: FAA officials gave Southwest a pass on safety checks

WASHINGTON -- FAA officials overseeing Southwest Airlines ignored safety violations, leaked sensitive data to the carrier and tried to intimidate two inspectors to head off investigations, according to previously undisclosed allegations by the inspectors.

The Federal Aviation Administration inspectors are scheduled to testify April 3 before the House Transportation Committee. They say others in the agency allowed Southwest to skip critical safety inspections for years. The charges are in government documents provided to USA TODAY.

The federal Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that investigates complaints from whistle-blowers, such as the two inspectors, found a "substantial likelihood" that the allegations are true, according to the documents.

The FAA on Thursday fined Southwest $10.2 million for intentionally flying 46 jets without performing inspections for cracks in the fuselage. The agency also reassigned two FAA managers in the office that oversees Southwest, but has neither identified them nor said when the action occurred.

The whistle-blowers complained repeatedly in memos written in 2007 that their concerns about Southwest were not being taken seriously. The underlying safety concern — that the airline was unable to keep up with mandatory inspections — had been raised as early as 2003, one charged.

FAA inspector C. Bobby Boutris wrote in a memo to Congress last fall that only after congressional investigators began inquiring about the matter did the agency tighten oversight at Southwest.

"After eight months, they (Southwest) are finally doing what they were required to do back in March, and this is not by choice," Boutris wrote. "It is very sad that somebody from outside had to force them to do the right thing."

Memos from Boutris and another FAA whistle-blower, Douglas Peters, said that others in the office objected to their attempts to enforce basic safety standards at Southwest. Boutris and Peters say FAA officials overseeing enforcement were too close to Southwest managers. A top Southwest maintenance official had recently left the FAA and was friendly with several of the agency's top inspectors, they said.