When you step on an airplane, you assume that every safety precaution has been taken. You may grumble when a flight gets delayed due to something needing to be checked or a minor problem that does not seem essential, but the reality is that when it comes to air travel, most people believe that every precaution should be taken.
The people who do these jobs, however, are people and that means they can have a bad day, slack off a little, or turn away from a potential problem for one reason or another. That's not a big deal for the people inspecting how clear a plane's bathrooms are or whether it has been sanitized properly.
You might get sick from lax standards in those areas, but you won't fall out of the sky, burst into flames, or otherwise die in one of the worst ways imaginable. But, when people slack off or look the other way when it comes to areas that involve safety, well, that's when terrible things could happen.
A new report shows that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees are worried about how the oversight efforts for Southwest Airlines are being handled.
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Southwest May Have a Safety Problem
The safety concerns came to light after the Wall Street Journal obtained access to internal FAA documents.
"About three-quarters of respondents said the culture in the FAA’s Dallas-area office that oversees Southwest hasn’t improved in recent years, after concerns had been raised regarding its oversight of the airline, according to an internal November survey report. Some respondents questioned the office’s commitment to safety, the documents showed," the paper reported.
Multiple federal agencies including the Transportation Department’s inspector general, the Senate Commerce Committee, and an FAA agency auditor have documented concerns over the FAA's handling of Southwest in recent years.
The airline answered the concerns in a statement made to the Journal.
“Southwest maintains a culture of compliance, recognizing the safety of our operation as the most important thing we do, and any implication that we would tolerate a relaxing of standards is unfounded,” a Southwest spokeswoman said.
Southwest Had a Max Problem
Southwest was hit hard in 2021 when the FAA grounded Boeing's (BA) 737 Max after two planes of that model crashed (neither was connected to the airline).
The grounding followed two crashes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, that killed a total of 346 people. The cause of the crashes was traced back to a faulty software system that left pilots unable to control the planes.
Southwest began bringing its 737 Max planes back in March 2021, making it the last major airline to do so. The FAA had approved for the plane to be cleared to fly in November 2020 after extensive testing.
At the time of the plane's grounding, Southwest had more 737 Max planes in its fleet or on order than any other airline.
