FAA Safety Czar Sabatini Should be Fired for AA Cancellations

The godfather of safety at the FAA, Nicholas Sabatini, should be immediately fired for his direct role in coercing the unnecessary and irrational cancellation of over 3000 American Airlines flights for a minor standard violation that did not threaten the public safety, while coddling other airlines with greater violations. His "straining at a gnat, while swallowing a camel" resulted in national travel chaos and economic disaster for which he is primarily responsible.

This clip from FOXbusiness from April 11th proves that this analysis is sound, and that the flights were cancelled when the immediate public safety was not threatened:

The fact that the FAA previously gave airlines up to 18 months to comply with the safety directive is a clear indication that this was not a threat to safety-of-flight and in no way required airlines to ground aircraft and displace thousands of customers. In addition, during the initial audit, airlines inspected were cleared in compliance with this directive by the FAA regulators -- a clear oversight of the FAA's regulators to pay close attention to the complicated and precise specifications of their own airworthiness directive.

Additional news coverage this week showed experts saying that this maintenance adjustment could have been done in a less disruptive easy rotation of aircraft to keep everyone flying. Meanwhile news stories are uncovering that FAA inspectors claim that FAA bosses hindered work, even in a threatening manner. (Thus our godfather imagery fits precisely).

The purpose of the FAA is to prevent public danger or chaos, not create it! This was the greatest cancellation and grounding of flights since 9/11, a public transportation disaster not caused by terrorist saboteurs , but by the government itself.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia was among those in Congress in this article button-holing Mr. Sabatini and saying that someone should be fired , and rightly so.

clipped from www.star-telegram.com Lawmakers blame FAA regulators in flight cancellations GETTY IMAGES/ALEX WONG Testifying in the Senate, from left: Nicholas Sabatini of the Federal Aviation Administration, Calvin Scovel of the Transportation Department, Steven Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board and Tom Brantley of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON -- Outrage over mass cancellations of American Airlines flights spilled into Congress on Thursday as lawmakers blamed the Federal Aviation Administration for indirectly contributing to the hardships shouldered by thousands of stranded travelers. Nicholas Sabatini, the FAA's associate administrator for safety, endured relentless questions by members of a Senate subcommittee on aviation, who took turns denouncing "systematic" regulatory failures by the FAA. Several suggested that the cancellations may not have been necessary if the agency had been tougher in the past.

Chaos for Travellers and American Airlines