FAA Shake-Up Is Scheduled, Hinson Says

David Hinson, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Monday he plans to announce personnel and organizational changes at the agency in the wake of its grounding of ValuJet Airlines.

ABC-TV said it had learned the announcement would include the firing of Anthony Broderick, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification.

The FAA on Monday announced that ValuJet was voluntarily suspending flights after the FAA found serious deficiencies in its operations.

Hinson told ABC’s “Nightline” that the agency had been “lax” in its oversight of ValuJet and clearly needed to reassess the way it maintained surveillance of air carriers that use outside contractors to maintain their aircraft.

“I believe the FAA was lax in that context, and I will say that tomorrow and tomorrow I will also say what actions I have taken to correct that,” Hinson said. “I will make some personnel changes and other organizational changes.”

Hinson said many airlines used outside maintenance contractors and had very good safety records. But in the case of ValuJet, “the methodologies we have used in the past didn’t work . . . as well as it should have and we need to change it and we will. Clearly, we have some culpability at the agency.”