FAA Denies It Rushed to Certify Small Jets
After 30-day review, FAA says it properly certified Eclipse 500 jets.
Sept. 12, 2008— -- Did the Federal Aviation Administration rush to get a new small, lightweight jet certified without properly ensuring the planes were safe to fly?
Those are the newest allegations facing the federal agency that has repeatedly been scrutinized this year.
On Friday, the FAA defended itself in the face of charges that the agency rushed to certify the Eclipse 500. Jets like the Eclipse 500 are the newest wave in aviation. More than 200 in service today are small and lightweight, and used not only as private planes but also as air taxis.
The FAA said today that a 30-day review focused on the certification for the jet found that the agency did not rush the process despite those who said the FAA acted improperly.
"Our conclusion is the airplane was safe and certified properly," said the head of the review panel and former Boeing executive Jerry Mack.
Still, the union representing engineers who certify aircraft have filed a grievance against the FAA. The union said several engineers claim they were pressured to rush certification of the Eclipse jet, and that it was certified before all the safety issues were resolved. They said FAA managers were so eager to approve the jet, they came in on a Saturday to sign off on the plane.
The FAA today insisted that it's not unusual to have debate and disagreement during the certification of a new jet. But they insisted no one would have signed off on the jet if they didn't feel it was safe to fly.
The agency's actions will come under congressional scrutiny next week when Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who serves as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, holds a hearing to try to get to the bottom of the matter.
The FAA likewise came under harsh criticism earlier this year after managers allowed Southwest Airlines to fly planes without the required maintenance. The agency was accused of developing overly cozy relationships with the industry it is supposed to regulate. The FAA has since instituted new rules that it claims will ensure similar glitches do not happen again. And just this week, it stressed that the FAA knows its key customer is not the airlines, but the flying public.
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