House Votes $15 Million to Boost FAA’s Airline Inspection Force

The House Wednesday approved money to sharply increase the number of aviation inspectors amid concerns that the Federal Aviation Administration is not able to adequately monitor airline safety.

An amendment to the Transportation Department’s fiscal 1986 appropriations bill provides for $15 million to hire an additional 200 FAA airline inspectors, with an expectation that 150 more will be hired the next year.

“We have to make sure that all airlines are inspected,” Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee and sponsor of the amendment, told a news conference.

The amendment was approved without opposition.

The FAA currently has 674 inspectors assigned to commercial airlines, although additional inspectors normally assigned to general aviation activities also have been inspecting commuter air carriers.

Department Sent Request

Transportation Department spokesman Ed O’Hara said that the department also wants to increase the number of inspectors and that a proposal to hire an additional 150 next fiscal year has already been sent to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.

That proposal calls for fewer additional inspectors than envisioned by the House. Mineta said he would like to see the FAA inspection force that deals exclusively with commercial air carriers increased to between 1,000 and 1,100 within two years.

Although the additional funding to hire inspectors has yet to clear the Senate, congressional sources who spoke on condition they not be identified said they expected no strong opposition.

Last month, a congressional study concluded that the FAA’s inspection force is inadequate and has resulted in some air carriers receiving “virtually no inspection” and in airlines that have similar operations receiving widely varying degrees of inspection.

The FAA is concluding an internal examination of its inspection operations.