"Airline-Accident Prevention Takes a Backseat to Security"

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Airline-Accident Prevention Takes a Backseat to Security
New Technologies Are Delayed As Focus Is Shifted to Terrorism
By ANDY PASZTOR 
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


PARIS -- Promising new technologies to prevent future commercial-airplane
accidents are being significantly scaled back or delayed as much of the
aviation industry's attention has shifted to safeguarding jetliners from
potential bombs and terrorists.

Nearly two years after jetliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, this week's Paris Air Show underscores just how dramatic the shift
in priorities has been for aircraft manufacturers, carriers and government
officials. With airlines mired in financial crises around the world and the
U.S. government facing multibillion-dollar bills to deploy bomb-detection
equipment and pay for other security improvements at airports, traditional
aviation-safety programs have been put on the back burner.

That means money and high-level commitments for a variety of budding safety
advances -- from onboard turbulence-detection devices to improved
runway-collision warning systems -- are not forthcoming.

"This is not the time we're going to get new safety mandates," says Robert
Johnson, head of Honeywell International Inc.'s aerospace unit. He
acknowledges that his company has put off plans to develop and deploy a
number of new safety devices. Instead, Honeywell is ramping up research and
engineering work on various homeland-security and military initiatives.

Without more proactive initiatives, experts fear accident rates inevitably
will climb around the world. Brian McDonnell, Ireland's top aviation
regulator, believes that "security is only part of the [overall safety]
picture." Industry leaders "should be particularly anxious that we not
emphasize one at the expense of the other," he adds.

So far, adverse impacts on prominent safety projects include:

   . Prototype cockpit displays designed to warn pilots of impending runway
collisions won't be tested in U.S. commercial jets anytime soon. Even though
several serious runway misses occur at world-wide airports each week, UAL
Corp.'s United Airlines, which was due to begin testing the equipment last
year, and other carriers have cooled to the idea of investing quickly in
so-called moving-map displays.
 
   . Development of laser devices able to accurately detect and predict
turbulence in clear weather -- a problem that kills or injures scores of
passengers and flight attendants every year -- has become a lower priority.
Honeywell had been in talks with United, Delta Air Lines and other airlines
around the world about installing prototypes in cockpits last year. But the
initiative stalled after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.
The result: Pilots still have to rely on imprecise warnings from other
crews, or spotty reports from busy air-traffic controllers, to avoid
dangerous turbulence at high altitudes.
 
   . In-flight data links between pilots and air-traffic controllers,
previously hailed as the answer to unclogging congested voice-transmission
frequencies, have been stalled by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
for cost reasons. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey determined that too few
aircraft were benefiting from the system. In today's economy, she says,
government and industry "must expect a return on investment."
 
   . The construction of new runways and taxiways, designed to reduce the
threat of collisions and to smooth operations, have been delayed at
Chicago's O'Hare, Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco
International Airport , among other busy airports . 

The loss of momentum comes even as airlines and pilots face a daunting array
of fresh challenges. Ultra-long-range operations -- currently flights of
around 15 hours, but projected to stretch to 18 hours or more over water or
barren polar regions -- raise questions of crew fatigue, onboard
firefighting capability and other safety factors.

Still, in spite of the challenges, some companies and government agencies
are moving ahead with safety advances. Airbus officials say they haven't cut
back appreciably on safety expenditures and, for instance, are pursuing
innovative technologies to prevent their impending superjumbo A380 from
crashing into natural or man-made obstacles. Cash-strapped airlines also are
spending money on stepped-up monitoring of jet engines.

But the trend toward sidetracked safety initiatives is prompting increased
criticism and concern from veteran air-safety advocates. "Security and more
security, that's all we've heard about these days," complains Stuart
Matthews, chief executive of the industry-sponsored Flight Safety
Foundation, who warned colleagues at a conference months ago to "keep an eye
on the ball [and] ensure that critical safety enhancements aren't killed or
sidelined."


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