Editorials
Wednesday, September 4, 1996
Airline action shows
commitment to safety
THE grounding of ValuJet Airlines by the Federal Aviation Administration last June, following the crash of one of its planes in the Florida Everglades, did not directly affect Hawaii. But the disaster apparently prodded the FAA to get tougher with its inspections, and now it has cracked down on an airline that does serve Hawaii - Rich International Airways, a charter company based in Miami. The FAA order to suspend all flights left 1,300 passengers stranded in Hawaii by the cancelation of four outgoing flights.
The FAA cited maintenance and equipment problems in ordering the suspension, including problems with equipment used to install jet engines. The federal agency also criticized the airline's record-keeping and officers' training.
These groundings are a great inconvenience for the passengers who are caught without a flight, but it is hard to complain about actions taken in the interest of safety. If anything, the FAA may have been too lenient in dealing with safety-related infractions.
Transportation Secretary Federico Pena was criticized for defending ValuJet in the wake of the crash of Flight 592 last May although it was subsequently disclosed that the airline had committed a number of infractions prior to the crash.
ValuJet was recently permitted to resume operations, but the FAA and the Department of Transportation don't want to be caught in a similarly embarrassing situation again with other airlines.
Deregulation in 1978 unleashed competitive forces in the airline industry, but it did not provide for or imply any diminution of safety regulation. Actions such as the grounding of Rich International are obviously unwelcome. But they demonstrate that the government is still taking seriously its responsibility to maintain safety in commercial aviation.
Dole on Iraq policy
SADDAM Hussein's invasion of the Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq and the U.S. missile attack in response have given the presidential election campaign a new foreign policy dimension. This may work to President Clinton's advantage. Americans usually rally around the commander in chief in a crisis.
The current situation is a result of Bush's decision to call off the war before Saddam's forces could be destroyed, permitting him to survive - a decision that is still being debated. Clinton inherited the consequences and can hardly be blamed for them. The president's alleged weakness regarding Saddam does not appear to be an issue that Dole can profitably pursue.
Simpson civil trial
LAWYERS are tempted to mistakenly regard civil lawsuits as private affairs, and judges too often concur, although they are conducted in public courtrooms at taxpayers' expense. This practice has been taken to absurd lengths in the upcoming trial of the suits brought against O.J. Simpson by the estate of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and the family of the late Ronald Goldman. Few cases have stirred as much public interest as Simpson's, and fewer still have been so thoroughly closed off to the public as this apparently will be.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor