WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to keep secret from travelers its vast records on where and how often commercial planes are damaged by hitting flying birds.
The government agency argued that some carriers and airports would stop reporting incidents for fear the public would misinterpret the data and hold it against them.
The agency’s formal secrecy proposal came just after FAA officials said they were going to release the huge database to The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
“To have the government actually chill public access to safety information is a step backward,” said James Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Public awareness is an essential part of any strong safety program.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer and fellow New York Democrat, Rep. John Hall, vice chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, wrote administration officials urging them to abandon the proposal.
After a multiple bird strike forced a US Airways jet to ditch in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, the AP requested access to the bird-strike database, which contains more than 100,000 reports of strikes that have been voluntarily submitted since 1990.
In a Feb. 18 conference call, FAA officials promised the AP the agency would turn over the data within days. Since then, the FAA has said the AP’s request for the data was “under review.”
Last Thursday, the FAA quietly published its proposal to keep the data secret in the Federal Register.
The agency’s proposal rested on the assumption that some carriers and airports it regulates would allow concerns about their image and profits to override efforts to keep passengers safe.
The Airports Council International-North America, which represents most U.S. airports, was consulting its members on how to respond to the FAA proposal.