NASA appears to be sandbagging on reporting the results of a survey they conducted a few years back on airline safety. Their data, which is taken from phone interviews across 24,000 pilots, apparently suggest that the number of “incidents” in airline travel are significantly higher than reported by the FAA.
Asked to reveal the data to the AP, NASA politely declined, stating that revealing the findings could damage the public’s confidence in airlines and affect airline profits.
Since when does safety take a back seat to airline profits? Does anyone else see the airline lobby at work here?
I’m well past the conspiracy theory and into the complacent stage in my life where this sort of stuff doesn’t bother me anymore. Perhaps its because I’m still confident in the general safety record of the industry. As the MSNBC article concedes, there is only 1 fatality in about 4.5 million departures. I suppose I can take my chances for now.