The Federal Aviation Administration is trying to keep the public from seeing records of aircraft and bird collisions after the accident in January that forced a passenger jet to crash land in the Hudson River. -DB
USA Today
March 27, 2009
By Alan Levin
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government plans to block public access to its records of aircraft and bird collisions such as the one that forced a US Airways jet to splashdown in New York’s Hudson River in January.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that the information could mislead the public and its release could prompt some airports and others not to report incidents, but the proposal is drawing sharp criticism from bird safety experts and public records advocates.
Two months after a flock of geese snuffed out an Airbus A320’s engines and forced it to ditch in the Hudson, the FAA filed a little-noticed proposal that would bar release of its extensive record of bird collisions dating back to 1990.
“I’m flabbergasted that they don’t have to report this,” said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The FAA move runs counter to President Obama’s efforts to encourage release of government records, said Dalglish, a frequent flier who wondered after the Hudson accident how often birds caused such problems.
Paul Eschenfelder, an airline pilot who teaches a course in airport bird management, said a string of recent accidents suggests the risks from birds is increasing and the FAA has not done enough to address the problem. “Keeping (the data) secret is not helping at all,” he said.
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