Questions on controversial NASA air-traffic safety study

William Atkins
Wednesday, 02 January 2008 19:37

Opinion and Analysis

We have a 16,000-page document called the National Aviation Operational Monitoring Service (NAOMS) information bulletin that identifies problems within air traffic safety and general aviation.

The document appears at the NASA website: http://www.nasa.gov/news/reports/NAOMS.html.

First off: What are we going to do with the information contained inside the document? 

If it was only NASA’s job to conduct the survey and produce the survey, then NASA has done that task. Now, who is going to do the next step and evaluate the information in the study?

I haven’t seen much in print that states what government agency is going to perform the next step: evaluate this information and come up with conclusions so that the information can be used to help solve problems.

A spokesperson with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states it, "plans to examine the NASA data, but ... [it is] directly responsible for policing the nation's airways [and it already] has a system of its own that accurately tracks hazards."

Doesn't sound like it is going to do much of anything! [Houston Chronicle]

This document cost an estimated $11.3 million. I would hope that the money will not be wasted but will go to helping solve problems in the aviation industry.

As for the comment from NASA administrator Mike Griffin that NASA was hesitant to release the information publicly because it might hurt the aviation industry. I am assuming that the information was initially intended to be released to the public because the U.S. Congress has been trying to force NASA for some time to release the information. Even if it wasn’t intended to be released to the public, certain members of Congress decided it would be wise to do so.

Such publicly-released information might hurt the aviation industry in the short-term, but such information is vital, it would seem to me, to improving the safety and reliability of the air-traffic system and aviation in general in the United States, and probably around the world, too.