Air Traffic Control: Be Careful Out There

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To Donald Engen, the Federal Aviation administrator, this reversal in fatalities is what really matters in air safety. "I can't deal with somebody claiming that 'the margin of safety has decreased,' " says Engen. "I deal with real facts, the accidents in hundreds of thousands of hours flown. These rates are continuing to go down. It happened in 1986 because we made it happen." Indeed, the number of fatal accidents in U.S. civil aviation in 1986 was 1.09 for each 100,000 hours flown, a decrease from 1.2 in the year before.

The FAA's vigilance in policing shoddy maintenance practices led the Government agency to ground 61 commuter and air-taxi carriers for varying periods (some permanently) in 1986, as well as 60 the year before. In its most spectacular gesture, the FAA in March fined Eastern Air Lines $9.5 million for , 78,372 alleged safety and maintenance violations. Pan Am has been jolted by FAA fines of $2 million, while American was assessed $1.5 million.

Not everyone agrees, however, that the decrease in fatalities last year stemmed from better management by the FAA or anyone else. "Our emphasis on safe operations has given us an incredible skein of good luck," observes William Jackman, vice president of the Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group. "We've got to be the luckiest industry in the world."

And while ALPA's Duffy views Engen as "one of the best administrators we have ever worked with," he disagrees with the FAA boss on a key point. "You don't judge how the system is operating by the number of accidents," Duffy says. "The indicators predict where the accidents are going. When you are having more near mid-airs, well, it's just a matter of time before two planes will slam together, as they did at Cerritos."

The most severe critics of the air safety system are the airline pilots, who, it has often been noted, are the first to arrive at the scene of an air accident. A survey of ALPA's members in September showed not only that midair collisions are the pilots' biggest concern but that 66% of them feel that the problems of air-traffic control are more serious than the public realizes. In the opinion of 43% of pilots, deregulation has had an adverse effect on airline safety. Declares Pilot David Linsley, a 20-year veteran at United: "The system is not as safe as it used to be, not as safe as it should be, not as safe as it could be and not as safe as it will be -- or the pilots will shut it down."

American Flight 557 approached Chicago's O'Hare on Oct. 31. As it descended from 10,000 ft., a single-engine Cessna suddenly appeared ahead of it and passed just 300 ft. below and a mile to one side. Snapped the startled American pilot: "Center, did you just have an aircraft pass us in the opposite direction?" Controller: "I have an old track I don't see . . . there, target's back up now. I'm sorry about that." Pilot: "Well, that was very, very close."