White House plan, GAO study aim to make skies safer.

Investigations into the 1996 crashes of ValuJet Flight 592, TWA Flight 800, and others have spurred a renewed emphasis--and a White House initiative and General Accounting Office (GAO) study--on improving aviation safety.

In April, Vice President Gore announced a new aviation safety agenda aimed at reducing accidents by 80 percent over the next 10 years.

"By targeting and preventing the leading causes of fatalities and injuries, by expanding engine inspections, and by improving pilots' warning and detection systems, we will significantly reduce the number of plane crashes and save hundreds and hundreds of lives," Gore said.

Specifically, the plan will require more rigorous checks on critical engine parts to reduce the chances of engine failure and mandate that most commercial planes be equipped with new terrain avoidance systems to warn pilots when a plane is getting dangerously close to the ground.

Under the plan, special teams of technical experts will focus on the leading causes of accidents in commercial and general aviation, with an emphasis on flight cabin safety.

By June, airlines will receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instruction on how to conduct more rigorous engine inspections. The FAA Will require these checks by the end of 1998.

Currently, terrain avoidance systems are voluntarily installed in planes. By 2001, the FAA will require nearly all commercial aircraft to install the detection systems.

Gore developed the safety initiative six months after President Clinton asked him to head the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.

After input from a wide range of experts, Gore submitted a list of recommendations to the president focusing on aviation security and flight safety, including the installation of advanced explosive detection systems at the nation's major airports.

The White House's air safety plan was unveiled less than a month after the release of a GAO report aimed at identifying weaknesses in inspection and enforcement efforts by the FAA. GAO reviewed six years of enforcement records and interviewed members of the FAA's 3,000-member inspection staff.

The study was ordered by Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Slade Gorton of Washington. McCain chairs the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Gorton chairs the Subcommittee on Aviation.

Highlights of the report follow.

* In fiscal years 1990 through 1996, inspectors opened only about one enforcement case for every four inspections that identified problems.

* More than half the inspectors said they let some violations slip by because of burdensome paperwork and because FAA's legal staff routinely reduced recommended fines and dropped fines altogether in one-third of the cases. Those attorneys reduced recommended suspensions 58 percent of the time. In 27 percent of the cases, they settled for no suspensions at all.

* Fewer than one-third of inspectors rated FAA's enforcement process as an excellent or good method for fostering compliance with its regulations.

* Although the FAA assessed fines against all types of aviation operators, it only suspended the operating privileges of small operators and individuals, not of major or national air carriers.

* FAA's inspection tracking systems do not distinguish major violations from minor ones. As a result, the agency's information on aviation industry compliance is incomplete and of limited use in providing early warning of potential risks.

The GAO report, "Aviation Safety: Weaknesses in Inspection and Enforcement Limit FAA in Identifying and Responding to Risks," GAO/RCED-98-6, is available online at http://www.gao.gov/AIndexFY98/ abstracts/rc98006.htm.