Airline Safety

* In “Airline Probe’s Paper Chase” (editorial, May 24) you express your concern about the Federal Aviation Administration’s gargantuan task of monitoring the safety of large and small airline operations. The FAA and its predecessor have never had effective oversight of such a complex, highly technical industry. Good airplanes are built because Boeing has the moral and marketplace incentives to make good aircraft. The same goes for day-to-day airline operations, large and small. Good airlines are the result of voluntary compliance for the most part. The marginal or downright unsafe operations are usually discovered only after the crash occurs. Then, the usual hue and cry goes up, until the next time the public wants to get the best possible deal on air travel.

Don’t expect the FAA to condemn itself. The Times should do in-depth interviews of the staffs of the National Transportation Safety Board and the various airline pilot unions. The ultimate responsibility rests with a Congress that keeps stealing funds from the FAA’s passenger-funded aviation trust fund.

WALLY ROBERTS

San Clemente

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There needs to be a final question added to the maintenance checklists used when servicing airliners. It should read: “Would you fly in this airplane (yes or no)?”

THOMAS E. LOCKE

North Hollywood