By Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN)
One look at the traffic around Nashville's airport in the days surrounding Thanksgiving clearly illustrates how air travel has transformed our society.
America's air transportation system has become critical, both to our nation's economic vitality and to our quality of life.
While our air transportation system has an impressive safety record, the dramatic growth in demand for air travel and the introduction of new technologies put stress on the system. When it comes to safety in air travel, resting on our laurels is a strategy for future failure. The federal government must be vigilant in identifying and correcting safety challenges that have emerged from the increased demand by the flying public.
The Aviation Safety and Security Commission chaired by Vice President Al Gore a decade ago focused on the need to be proactive in looking for dangerous conditions that can contribute to accidents. One of the important NASA initiatives from that commission was a project to identify potentially dangerous aviation trends so corrective steps could be taken before a tragedy.
NASA pulled the plug
After conducting more than 20,000 interviews of commercial and general aviation pilots and doing some preliminary work to identify safety trends, NASA pulled the plug on the aviation safety study and shifted funding to the president's Moon to Mars initiative.
The release of that survey data to let outside statistical experts and aviation industry analysts examine what was found seems to be the only reasonable step. The study cost more than $8 million paid by the taxpayers, and the data is in a form that protects the identity of the survey participants so privacy concerns should not be an issue.
But NASA now is refusing to make the survey data public. A senior NASA official says the data can't be released because it "could materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of, the air carriers."
NASA needs to focus on maintaining and increasing the safety of the flying public, not on protecting the commercial air carriers. Drug manufacturers can't hide data from the public if trials show a drug is dangerous, but that's exactly what NASA looks like it is doing by keeping this safety study from the public. The public has a right to the information, and NASA should release the data so we can make any needed adjustments.
The issue goes beyond the public's right to know; it's also a question of priorities. Space exploration is important to the nation's future, but so are NASA's aviation safety programs.
When NASA's Vision for Space Exploration leads to the cancellation of important aviation safety projects, it's clear that it's a shortsighted vision that needs correction.
The House Science and Technology Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow to determine if NASA can do more to protect the public. I believe it can. It may take some time, but I am committed to making sure NASA gets its priorities right to ensure safe skies for air travelers.
