Pentagon Aims for Safer Charter Flights

The Pentagon reported Friday that it will step up surveillance of charter airline operators and make other changes to ensure the safety of the nearly 6 million people whom the military flies each year.

James P. Wade Jr., assistant secretary of defense for acquisition and logistics, said the steps recommended will provide “a significant improvement” and added: “The department intends to take aggressive action to assure that air carriers who fly our people are concerned with the quality and are fully complying with the high standards of air safety.”

The review was ordered after the Dec. 12 crash of a charter Arrow Air DC-8 at Gander, Newfoundland, which killed 248 soldiers and a crew of eight. The soldiers were members of the 101st Airborne Division who were returning to Ft. Campbell, Ky., from peacekeeping duties in the Middle East.

Investigation Continues

Arrow Air was later grounded and has since filed for bankruptcy. Wade said the investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing.

The Pentagon report said that military survey teams lacked experience with civilian operations, that different military operations had different requirements for air carriers, and that inspection procedures varied.

The report also reaffirmed the military’s position to rely on commercial aviation to move 95% of its passengers and 15% of its cargo shipments.

At a briefing for reporters, Wade said increased scrutiny of large and small commercial air carriers is important because military personnel and their dependents generally have no choice about the planes they fly.

‘A Higher Standard’

“Since we direct our people to fly in the execution of orders, we will use a higher standard of performance and will expect a higher level of quality from our carriers than may be in effect for the traveling public as a whole,” Wade said.

Last year, the Pentagon flew 5,327,700 people on commercial aircraft (4,581,000 on scheduled airlines and 746,700 on charter services) and 221,035 people on military planes. The Pentagon, the largest single customer of the airline industry, provided 2.95%, or $1.15 billion, of airline revenues last year.

“The report concluded that charter operations have an excellent safety record,” Wade said. “Nevertheless, strong measures are being taken to ensure the safety of our personnel and maintain high quality of air travel for defense men and women and their families.”

Creation of Review Board

Among the recommendations made by the study group of more than two dozen military and FAA officials were:

--Creation of a commercial review board to monitor air carrier activities and establish guidelines to suspend and to reinstate carriers.

--An in-depth survey of each airline every two years and surveillance of the carriers every six months.

--Improved communication with the Federal Aviation Administration.

--An increase in the number of ramp inspections to include 25% of all passenger charters.

--A requirement that at least 60% of a carrier’s revenue come from non-military passengers.