Head of FAA Criticizes Hahn’s Probe of Pilots

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration has singled out Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn as an example of local authorities improperly meddling in the operation of the nation’s aviation system.

Hahn, whose office has expanded criminal investigations against pilots following the Aug. 31 Cerritos air disaster, said through a spokesman that his office will continue criminal prosecutions against pilots flying recklessly or carelessly “with or without the cooperation” of the FAA.

FAA chief Donald Engen, in a speech in Dallas, said the air system traditionally is a national operation and above the efforts of local officials to shape it to suit local needs, according to wire service accounts of Engen’s speech.

He took particular issue with Hahn’s pursuit of two criminal investigations.

In both cases, Engen said, Hahn sought help from the FAA in pursuing criminal prosecutions against pilots or air traffic controllers who may have contributed to the Cerritos collision but who have cooperated fully with federal safety investigators.

“I am deeply concerned about the precedent set here,” Engen said. “Those people involved cooperated with safety investigators, even knowing that the FAA could impose a civil penalty on the pilot’s certificate. I’m not sure that the next pilot will cooperate, especially if he thinks that information provided to safety investigators might be used by other parties in a criminal prosecution.

“The flying of an airplane is not easily governed under criminal procedures. The highly technical, skilled and instantaneous decisions that pilots must make in the cockpit should not, in normal cases, be second-guessed under the leisure of judicial proceeding.”

Engen made his remarks in a speech to the 21st Annual Air Law Symposium sponsored by Southern Methodist University.

Hahn’s office is investigating allegations that private pilot Roland P. Furman flew his light plane into the restricted space of the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area (TCA) on Aug. 31, a few minutes before the collision of an Aeromexico DC-9 and a second light plane that claimed 82 lives.

In addition, Hahn is pursuing a criminal investigation into reports that the pilot of a World War II-vintage fighter plane did stunts in front of a commuter plane that was making a landing approach to Burbank Airport on Jan. 29.

Responding to Engen’s contention that federal laws and regulations should preempt state and local laws, Hahn spokesman Mike Qualls said that the state laws providing criminal penalties for careless or reckless flying have been on the books for a number of years and that none of the pilots prosecuted under them have appealed convictions on the grounds that federal rules take precedence.

After the Cerritos crash, Hahn began investigating pilots who violate flying restrictions in the airspace used by air traffic controllers for routing planes to and from the area’s airports, Qualls said.

“When the Cerritos crash took place, Jim Hahn became aware of the tremendous numbers of TCA violations that take place on a daily basis over Los Angeles. That prompted him to contact the FAA to ask for their cooperation in looking into the more egregious violations appropriate for prosecution under state law,” Qualls said.

He added that Hahn believes that the number of light planes and the potential for new disasters requires criminal penalties in some cases that are stricter than FAA administrative sanctions.

“The bottom line is Jim Hahn has been prosecuting pilots in the past for reckless or careless flying and he will continue to do so in the future with or without the cooperation (of FAA officials), although he would obviously prefer their cooperation,” Qualls said.