			Foreign Correspondent

		      Inside Track On World News
	    By International Syndicated Columnist & Broadcaster
		 Eric Margolis <emargolis@lglobal.com>

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FEAR OF FLYING
by
Eric Margolis 16 May 1996

The crash of a Valuejet DC-9 on Saturday  week outside Miami
has again raised troubling questions about airline safety -
which, in North America, are generally very safe.  Cut-rate,
airlines, critics claim,   cut corners, or aren't always as
attentive to safety as larger, veteran carriers.

Then there's what I call `Airline Attitude.'  The legendary
Capt.Eddie Rickenbacker, who founded and ran Eastern
Airlines for decades, once thundered, `To hell with
passengers, I'm in the business of flying planes!'

Flying Eastern was often hell for miserable travellers. 
Thanks to the Rickenbacker credo, Eastern finally went into
well-deserved bankruptcy.  

Unfortunatly, Eastern remains a model for many of today's
airlines that are run by aviation enthusiasts who regard
passengers as merely a form of particularly troublesome
cargo.  

Having just spent 19 hours of sheer misery marooned at Paris
Airport thanks to Canadian Airlines, the question of 
Airline Attitude is much on my mind.  After a mechanical
problem, Canadian, which has a fine safety record, properly
delayed the flight.  The passengers, however, were fed a
steady diet of misinformation that prevented anyone from
taking another carrier, or at least going back to Paris.

We endured three delays that spanned nearly ten hours, and
being consigned to an airport hotel. The airline. with
maximum thoughtlessness, ordered us to awake at 0315 for a 5
am flight - which finally left at 6 am.  Canadian didn't
send another aircraft, nor put us, including sick, elderly
passengers, on another carrier. We were simply dumped,
ignored and treated like inert airfreight, to be shipped
later at the carrier's convenience. 

This column has previously commented on airlines with
similar attitude problems, particularly US Air, which is now
on the financial ropes.  When airlines forget their
passengers, they often end up defunct.  

As, of course, when they forget safety.  A Montreal-based
charter carrier  I accused of shoddy safety threatened to
sue me, and the Toronto Sun. It also threatened to stop its
extensive advertising in this newspaper. To its credit, the
Sun and Editor John Downing backed me up - and told the
airline to buzz off.  Soon after, Canadian government
regulators shut down the airline for extensive safety
violations. 

When I pointed out a glaring safety violation in Washington
aboard a Delta Express, turboprop, I was threatened with
arrest by the airline.  I launched a  complaint with the US
Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) but received only a tepid,
bureaucratic  response.  However, I understand that the line
has recently gone bankrupt. 

My experience with the FAA reflects the bureaucratic inertia
and ineffectiveness of the agency, which has come under
mounting criticism this week after the Valuejet crash.  Like
other federal watchdog agencies, FAA regulators have become
too chummy with the industry they're  supposed to police.
Too many FAA inspectors retire and then join the airlines
they formerly regulated.   .

When the FAA finally does bestir itself to action and issue
safety directives, airlines and manufacturers are usually
given far too much time to enact the orders.  Critics charge
FAA inspectors are lax often poorly trained.  

Take the ongoing question of the turboprop ATR-series
transports.  After two crashes caused by ineffective de-
icing systems, the FAA still allowed ATR's to fly, and only
temporarily grounded them after a burst of bad publicity. 
FAA still has not decided if these planes are safe, and
recently directed that  ATR's not be flown in freezing rain
in spite of modifications to their de-icing systems and
autopilots.  

This is unacceptable. The FAA is giving airlines which
operate the questionable ATR's every benefit  of the doubt,
while exposing the public to unnecessary risk.  When some 
American Airline pilots refused to fly the ATR's, they were 
threatened with dismissal by the airline. The FAA did
nothing. 

It's time for FAA watchdogs to grow teeth. And for
passengers to bite back.

copyright Eric Margolis 1996

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