Panel Calls for Creation of Aviation ‘Safety Czar’

A presidential commission called today for major changes in the way the government regulates the airlines, including more inspections of air carriers and appointment of an aviation “safety czar” with broad authority.

After months of examining aviation safety, the seven-member panel concluded that “the air transportation system is safe” but added that “safety is being maintained to an increasing extent through delays and other inconveniences.”

And the commission said, “While the (air transport) system is safe for now, the present governmental structure is not working effectively enough to ensure its safety in the future.”

The panel urged Congress to enact legislation that would split the Federal Aviation Administration away from the Transportation Department into an independent agency with power shared by an administrator and a director of aviation safety.

Would Ensure Safety

This director would be “in effect a ‘safety czar’ whose sole responsibility would be to ensure the safety of the system,” said John Albertine, the commission’s chairman. The safety director would have the authority to initiate safety regulations or block regulations initiated by the agency.

The commission, created by Congress, was directed by President Reagan last year to examine aviation safety and make recommendations on how the federal government could improve its regulation of the airline industry.

In the last year there has been increased pressure to make sweeping changes in the organization of the FAA. Suggestions have ranged from making it a semi-private agency and possibly taking air traffic controllers out of the government altogether to keeping the agency in the Transportation Department.

In a two-volume report, the President’s Commission on Aviation Safety urged that the FAA remain part of the government to maintain public accountability, but as an independent agency with an administrator and an aviation safety director, both of whom would be appointed for seven-year terms.

More Inspectors Urged

The commission also urged an increase in federal inspectors to keep up better with the rapidly changing airline industry and called for establishing a broader airline inspection program. It urged the adoptions of “surprise inspections” of air carriers as well as special inspections for airlines undergoing rapid change.

The commission noted that the FAA is committed to hiring additional inspectors and has increased the number to more than 2,000 from a low of 1,494 five years ago following Reagan’s blanket firing of striking controllers.

Because of continuing inspector staff shortages “significant portions of the (FAA’s) surveillance program are not being executed,” the commission said.

The FAA currently is committed to major, in-depth inspections of Eastern Airlines and Continental Airlines, both subsidiaries of Texas Air Corp., and also has under way a special series of inspections of commuter airlines in addition to its routine inspection duties.