Trumps shut down skaper stadig større problemer for luftfarten generelt og sikkerheten spesielt - Curt Lewis

83 NTSB investigations delayed due to shutdown JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - There are 83 accidents around the country where a federal investigation is being delayed due to the partial government shutdown. Because most of its staff is furloughed, the National Transportation Safety Board is not beginning new investigations and is not updating cases that were already underway. On NTSB's website, a message reads: "Due to a lapse in appropriations and government shutdown, the website will no longer be updated." An NTSB spokesman told News4Jax that 93 percent of the staff is furloughed and the other 7 percent is working without pay. The NTSB plays a critical role in investigating and determining the probable cause of any incident that results in significant loss of life or physical damage, or that involves civil aviation, railroad, marine or pipeline accidents. The board can issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. Federal investigators are not looking into Jan. 3's fiery wreck on Interstate 75 near Gainesville that killed five children from Louisiana headed to Disney World, along with two truck drivers. An example of an NTSB investigation that was completed before the shutdown was the March 2018 Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse in Miami-Dade County that resulted in six deaths. The NTSB determined the collapse was the result of "errors that were made in the design" of the bridge. The NTSB spokesperson told News4Jax that Sunday night's derailment of CSX rail cars into Cedar Creek on Jacksonville's Northside did not fit the criteria for an NTSB investigation, regardless of the shutdown.

Shutdown Shutters Many U.S. Aviation Safety Activities With the partial U.S. government shutdown now in its fifth week, key safety activities such as the release of most Airworthiness Directives (ADs) remain on hold. In fact, the FAA has issued only one new AD this year, involving high-thrust settings of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on the Boeing 787-8. That AD was released on Friday as an interim action ahead of the comment period because the FAA determined that the risk justified the immediate action. Under the DOT guidance plans for the government shutdown, safety workforce at the FAA would be "limited to safety critical staff whose job is to perform urgent continued operational activity to protect life and property." As such, the agency is working operational safety issues to determine whether urgent safety action is necessary, such as the release of emergency ADs. All other ADs, however, have stopped. By this time last year, the agency had already issued some 25 ADs and proposed nearly a dozen more. ADs are only one safety area on hold. The Aviation Safety Action Program-which provides a mechanism for voluntary reporting and mitigating safety issues in a non-threatening" environment-has stalled from the agency's furlough, backlogging event review committee (ERC) meetings and putting new memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on hold. Bryan Burns, president of the Air Charter Safety Foundation, noted that in the ACSF-administered ASAP program, eight ERC meetings in January have been postponed, while a handful of MoUs that establish the programs with operators remain pending. Further, the National Transportation Safety Board has quieted for the most part. One CBS report suggested that nearly 75 ongoing investigations-crossing all modes-have been put on hold. NTSB, however, could launch a major investigation or continue investigatory work involving imminent safety ramifications.

Major Aviation Organizations to Government: End the Shutdown AIA, AOPA, ATCA, AUVSI, FAA, GAMA, government shutdown, HAI, IATA, NATCA, NBAA, shutdown U.S. Capitol The U.S. Capitol building in winter, seen down Delaware Ave. (Phil Roeder, CC) An alphabet soup of nearly every major association, union and advocacy group in the aviation industry has come together to urge end the partial government shutdown that has furloughed government workers for 32 days as of Wednesday. AIA, AOPA, GAMA, NBAA, NATCA, HAI, IATA, AUVSI and ATCA. If you are familiar with the aviation industry, those acronyms* are likely familiar to you. Those nine and 25 additional aviation groups signed a letter addressed to the president and leaders of both houses of Congress. A stalemate between President Trump and Congressional Democrats over funding for the former's planned border wall between the U.S. and Mexico led to the shutdown, and the president has pledged not to let it end until he gets what he wants. In the meantime, the aviation industry is experiencing delays and lost revenue, with halted projects leading to major setbacks. The National Air Traffic Controller's Association (NATCA) and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents Transportation Security Administration (TSA), both sued the federal government over worker treatment and lost wages. More recently, legislative and executive leadership passed the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, guaranteeing back pay to affected employees. That assuaged many of the unions' concerns but does not address the gap in pay employees are currently experiencing, which the groups allege have led workers to quit the field and find other jobs - a problem since the industry is already experiencing shortages in both fields as air travel expands. The letter claims the shutdown is "hampering [the industry's] ability to function effectively," explaining to the recipients how workers across the industry, from pilots to mechanics to government officials, are being affected by the shutdown. The lack of a fully-functioning FAA keeps commercial and even military organizations from progressing on their planned timelines with certifications, delaying expensive projects; has prevented the training and licensing of new air traffic controllers and pilots, exacerbating the work shortage; and prevents airlines from adding new aircraft to their fleets. The lack of updated materials, certifications and approvals ripples throughout the rest of the industry and, according to the letter, hamstrings everyone else. The letter also alleges that safety is currently compromised on multiple fronts. Infrastructure is being inspected and maintained by only "a minimal team of engineers working without pay." TSA and Customs and Border Patrol are both working without pay and short-staffed. That can have a negative impact on both safety and the quality of air travel. "With fewer [safety officers] available to screen travelers at security checkpoints, wait times will grow and larger crowds will be forced to congregate in public areas of airports," the letter reads. "In some cases, checkpoints may have to be closed as a result of the shutdown. Some airports are already struggling to keep up with a record number of travelers, and reduced staffing levels will exacerbate problems in the nearterm [sic] and into the busy spring and summer travel seasons." Aviation industry insiders stress that each day projects are halted has an exponentially longer and more costly impact down the line, and the organizations who signed the letter are concerned that it will take a long time to recover from any setback in the industry's efforts to bolster staffing. There have been some talks between party leadership on compromises, but, to date, nothing promising that would lead to an end to the shutdown in the immediate future. *The groups are: The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), Airlines Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Helicopters Association International (HAI), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and The Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA). Controllers Quitting To Find Paying Work   RUSS NILES     Air traffic control personnel are resigning to seek other work after a month without pay and a union representative told CNN on Monday he expects more to come. "They will resign. They will go get outside jobs,” a National Air Traffic Controllers Association Atlanta rep said in an interview with Don Lemon on Monday. NATCA officials say they’re aware of resignations that are a direct result of the shutdown and are calling on all branches of the government to get the government open again. The union released a hand written resignation from a Madison, Wisconsin. In the letter, the trainee says he can't hang on any longer and needs to find another job and he says he likely won't be the last. "I worry that I may not be the last developmental forced to resign from an already understaffed facility," the letter reads. Controllers are among 800,000 essential employees working without pay and for the first month there has been pride in maintaining safety under the circumstances. But as they and the other workers anticipate missing a second paycheck next week the cracks are starting to show and NATCA says they’re already short of staff. Complicating matters is the fact that the training academy for controllers in Oklahoma City is also closed, meaning there will be a serious disruption in the flow of new trainees. Click "Download File" below to read the PDF copy of the letter.