Speech

Press Briefing

Good afternoon. Today, I want to talk about three things. What we did. What we found. And, what we are doing next.

The headline is as Acting Administrator Sturgell said:  99 percent compliance. In a moment, I will explain the 1 percent, which includes recordkeeping errors and four airlines that are under further investigation.

Here’s what we did. The noncompliance at Southwest Airlines raised a flag.

To get a quick picture of Airworthiness Directive, or AD, compliance across all carriers, on March 13, we instituted a Special Emphasis Validation of Airworthiness Directives.

This was Phase One in a two-part effort to reconfirm that U.S. air carriers are complying with airworthiness directives.

Under this effort, our airworthiness inspectors audited 10 ADs for each carrier and each fleet type. By fleet type, I mean each “make and model.” Boeing is a “make” and the “737” is a model.

Across 117 air carriers, our inspectors performed 2,392 audits.

Of the total audits, just over 1 percent, or 34, revealed discrepancies.

The bottom line is that this Phase One Special Emphasis review, which as an intensive effort, accomplished what it was intended to accomplish. It validated that the carriers are doing their jobs — they are meeting the Federal Aviation Regulations — and the FAA inspector workforce is doing its job — overseeing compliance.

Let’s drill down into those numbers and look at the 34 discrepancies.

Here is what we found:

• In 14 audits, the review did not establish compliance. The seven carriers involved provided additional information that demonstrated compliance.
• Five audits did not show compliance. But, the three carriers involved successfully demonstrated an Alternate Means of Compliance.
• In six audits, which involved two carriers, the aircraft were out of service. Compliance was not an issue.
• There were two audits that involved two carriers and errors in documentation. These have been addressed.

This brings the total to 27 audits — out of the 34 that had discrepancies — where the issues were resolved.

Of the 2,392 total audits, there were seven instances, which involved four airlines, where compliance could not be established. In one of these, it was not a missed inspection or repair. It was an instance where the AD did not require full compliance until the year 2028. But the AD does require that a plan be submitted. The plan had not been submitted.

The other three carriers had aircraft that were overdue for inspection. The carriers put the aircraft on the ground until they could perform the inspections.

All of these seven instances, where the carrier could not demonstrate compliance, are under investigation. Some could lead to penalties and we will assemble the evidence for appropriate action. The book, as they say, is not closed for these four airlines.

That was the Phase One review. It was a “snapshot” — what we could reasonably do in two weeks.

Yesterday, for Phase Two, we started an audit of 10 percent of all ADs for each fleet (make and model) for each air carrier.

This is a much bigger assignment.

As I said, we just started the Phase Two audit. We plan to have this audit completed on June 30. I am confident the results will be similar — Phase Two should further validate the sound oversight system that we have in place.

Whatever the results:  We will learn from it and get better.

Learning and improving:  That is the number one characteristic of an organization with a safety culture. The FAA and its safety workforce are absolutely committed to continuous improvement.

Thank you.