Congressman DeSaulnier Urges Federal Aviation Administration to Re-examine and Improve Aviation Safety

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10) sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Administrator, Michael Whitaker, urging the FAA to continue building upon its efforts to keep our skies safe for the flying public by re-examining and improving risk assessment in the aviation industry. This letter comes after an increase in aviation safety incidents and a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that highlighted the need for reform.

In the letter, Congressman DeSaulnier wrote, "over the past year, there have been an increasingly frequent number of incidents in the air system that have caused alarm, for both aviation workers and passengers. At San Francisco International Airport, right in the Bay Area, there have been at least 10 safety incidents, including a plane dropping a tire during takeoff, engine issues, and a hydraulic leak. Alarmingly, this high number does not account for other incidents that occurred mid-air or at other airports, like when a plane took off from a closed runway, or when a plane experienced an engine fire between Houston and Florida. While thankfully there were no reports of serious injuries resulting from the majority of these or other incidents that have occurred, it is still unsettling to see the variety of issues that have occurred.

The Government Accountability Office's (GAO) recent report and recommendations on the need to modernize aging air traffic control infrastructure are further evidence that the current path is untenable. The findings of this report are cause for alarm, given the high number of "unsustainable" air traffic control systems identified that have critical operational impacts on the safety of the airspace.

Combined, the above examples are serious indicators of a system that is being pushed to its limit. This is further emphasized by the major issues revealed by the FAA's investigation and audit into Boeing, which has over 10,000 aircraft in service, where several non-compliance and quality control issues were identified. We must continue to do what we can to learn from all of these incidents and patterns of behavior to better prepare and prevent dangerous situations from occurring.

As technology progresses and outside forces continue to pressure the safety of aviation, we must continually evolve the industry to ensure that all risks can be prepared for. I urge you to examine the current systems of risk assessment and risk management conducted by the FAA and the aviation industry to determine ways it can be improved to better protect aviation safety. In addition, we can use this opportunity to learn from other industries, like the nuclear industry, and how they conduct risk assessment to maintain the safest workplaces.

I recognize that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently utilizes a Safety Management System (SMS) that provides a "top-down, organization-wide approach to managing safety risk and assuring the effectiveness of safety risk controls."^[4]I appreciate the evolution of the SMS over time to include aspects of technical, human, and organizational safety, but it is not sufficient on its own.

I am proud that the U.S. has been a leader in aviation safety, and we must do all we can to keep it that way. Thank you for the work you do to protect the airspace and those who choose to fly, and I look forward to working together to improve risk assessment in the aviation industry, and to hearing from you about any plans the FAA has in this space."

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Congressman DeSaulnier is a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure where he serves on the Aviation Subcommittee. He is also the former chair of both the California Assembly and California Senate transportation committees. As part of his ongoing effort to improve aviation safety, Congressman DeSaulnier authored provisions that were included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2024 (H.R. 3935),which reauthorizes the FAA for five years while creating a safer, cleaner, more sustainable, and more accessible U.S. aviation system.