TAG Aviation USA ended its dispute with the FAA by agreeing to pay a $10 million civil penalty (see '$10 million civil penalty ends TAG, FAA dispute'), but the discussions about the FAA enforcement action against AMI are far from over. The FAA is being criticized for taking action against AMI “even though it never had an accident.” Is that the new safety indicator for airlines? You’re OK until you put one in the ground?
For years the FAA has been called the “tombstone agency,” acting only after an accident results in a smoldering hole littered with body parts. Whatever you want to say about the FAA’s action on AMI–and it sounds to me like the FAA did the right thing here–let’s not criticize the agency for acting before an accident. I don’t say this about the FAA lightly; in fact, I have a long record of severely criticizing the FAA for failing to do its job of providing adequate oversight of aviation operations.
More In Regulations and Government
