November 14, 2007
Dr. Michael Griffin
Administrator
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
300 E St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 2007
Dear Administrator Griffin:
During last week’s hearing on aviation safety, you abandoned the prior claim of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that it could not release the safety-related data obtained as part if the National Aviation Operation Monitoring Services (NAOMS) because it would “materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of, the air carriers and general aviation companies.” Additionally NASA stated no information obtained from pilots could be released because it would breach a “confidentiality” promise. Although your testimony was a little confusing on this topic, the most specific new reason given appeared to be that information taken from events occurring at an unspecified time during a 60-day timeframe that might include the name of an airport and the make and model of an aircraft could be reconstructed- or “reverse engineered” in the words of NASA staff- to identify the airline and/or pilot. You stated that “specific references to incidents and timeframes such that pilot identity could be reconstructed” by someone “knowledgeable in the field of aviation” would need to be deleted in the NOAMS database.
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