Transportation Secretary Would Dismantle FAA

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Transportation James H. Burnley IV, in an unprecedented high-level attack on the Federal Aviation Administration, Wednesday called the air safety agency “an experiment which has failed” and recommended that it be dismantled and its functions parceled among other government operations.

Burnley’s criticism, aired before a Senate hearing, was blunt to a degree almost unheard of in public forums by senior government officials, and escalated efforts to revamp federal oversight of air safety and the air traffic system.

The FAA, an agency of the Transportation Department, is hobbled by unhealthy “closeness to the specialized industry that it regulates, services and promotes,” leaving it unable to correct recurring problems, Burnley charged.

Using ‘Cattle Prod’

At times, “it has been necessary to use the bureaucratic equivalent of a cattle prod to get the FAA to take needed safety actions” to protect the traveling public, he told the senators.

Illustrating the agency’s cumbersome procedures, Burnley unveiled a 15-foot-long flow chart detailing the 377 steps an aviation safety proposal would have to navigate before being issued an official rule by the FAA.

The testimony by Burnley, who became head of the department in December, came before the Senate Commerce Committee’s aviation subcommittee, which is reviewing a bill by Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky.) to reorganize the agency and make it an independent body. Several other aviation reform measures are pending in Congress.

By lending official support to the growing criticism of the FAA’s performance, Burnley’s comments may strengthen congressional moves to legislate changes in safe ty requirements, curb delays and revamp air traffic control operations.

Responding to Burnley’s criticisms, FAA Administrator T. Allan McArtor issued a brief statement saying that he agrees the current system is “too slow and cumbersome.” But, he added, “current FAA initiatives . . . illustrate our commitment to make the necessary changes.”

The airline industry immediately endorsed one of Burnley’s recommendations--establishing a new quasi-governmental entity to take over air traffic control operations at the nation’s airports.

High Volume of Traffic

The current system “simply wasn’t designed to handle the present volume of traffic,” American Airlines Chairman Robert L. Crandall said at the hearing. Moving this function out of the agency “is the only way to free (it) from federal budget, procurement and personnel rules that simply do not work,” he said.

The FAA, which was formed in 1958, sets safety standards for the aviation industry, inspects airline and manufacturers’ operations and guides and routes flights. It is also responsible for promoting the industry’s economic prosperity.

The agency came under increasing scrutiny three years ago after a rash of fatal airline crashes that exposed gaps in FAA inspections. Last month, the FAA reported that airline delays--and passenger complaints--had risen steadily through the last three months of 1987 to the point that more than one-third of all flights were arriving late.

Since taking the top post at the agency last July, McArtor, seeking to address chief trouble spots, has launched intensified inspections of major airline and commuter airline operations and helped spur industry efforts to alleviate flight congestion.

Conflicts Held Inevitable

However, Burnley said the current system is “not reasonable.” He said the FAA’s many responsibilities cause inevitable conflicts.

Under his plan, a new government agency would take over the sole job of regulating safety while other government departments would handle such promotional duties as increasing aircraft exports.

The additional proposal for a new body to operate air traffic control facilities is somewhat similar to industry suggestions in the last year. The airlines hope it would lead to freeing the roughly $5.6 billion raised by airline ticket taxes that theoretically are supposed to go for air traffic system improvements. In recent years, the money has not been spent and, instead, has been held by the Treasury to lessen the size of the federal budget deficit.

Equipment and staffing must be improved in air traffic control towers if air travel is to get safer and more convenient, Crandall said. Since airline scheduling was deregulated in 1978, the total number of passengers flying in the United States has grown from 267 million annually to 433 million, Crandall said. By 1995, the industry projects that the number of passengers will have increased to 622 million.

Most Vocal Executive

Crandall, who has been the most vocal of the airline chief executives in pushing for changes in the regulatory system, said the airlines plan to launch a major public relations campaign in the next few weeks to press Congress to “fix the system.”

However, in the area of tougher safety regulation, Burnley said, one airline executive has already complained to him that the Transportation Department has pushed the FAA to be too “confrontational.”

Burnley publicly identified the source of that complaint only as a “senior executive at a major airline,” but the written version of his statement named him as Frank Lorenzo, the controversial chairman of Texas Air Corp., owner of Continental and Eastern Airlines.

Burnley and his predecessor, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, have had several run-ins with the industry and the FAA over safety issues. Last December, for example, both industry groups and the FAA objected when Burnley ordered that all airline employees pass through metal detectors before being allowed on planes.

Burnley took that action after a disgruntled former airline employee, using a pistol smuggled on board, caused the deaths of 43 people by shooting the pilot and co-pilot of a Pacific Southwest Airways flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Last month, Burnley took further steps to strengthen the rule after discovering that FAA officials were not routinely fining security personnel who failed to detect guns placed in carry-on baggage as tests.