Delta, American Airlines Drop Out of Voluntary Safety Program

DALLAS, Dec. 5 -- The nation's two largest airlines have dropped out of a federal safety program that was designed to encourage voluntary reporting of pilot errors before they resulted in crashes.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines cited an inability to reach agreements with pilot groups in suspending their Aviation Safety Action Programs, or ASAPs, which allow pilots to admit mistakes without fear of punishment.

American had taken part for 14 years, and its program was used as a model at other carriers in the United States and abroad.

The pilots union at American, the Allied Pilots Association, charged that American was using the program to discipline captains for inadvertent safety lapses, putting their jobs at risk. The union sought language to strengthen job protections for pilots who reported errors.

"We will not accept any process that labels our pilots as reckless, and discipline for inadvertent safety events must stop," union official Kevin Cornwell said at the time.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for AMR's American Airlines, said Friday the company preferred not to change provisions of the program but that the union balked and refused to extend the agreement. He said a self-reporting system from NASA is still in place.

A similar dispute led Delta, the nation's largest carrier, to end its program in 2006, and subsidiary Comair also recently dropped out. Pilots at Delta and Comair are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association.

William R. Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, said Friday that the program is vital to maintain the improvement in airline safety over the past several years. "These programs catch little problems before they become big problems," he said.

Voss said he didn't want to blame the unions or the airlines for the demise of the programs, but attributed it to deteriorating labor-management relations in the industry.

Acting FAA chief Robert A. Sturgell said in a speech last month that voluntary disclosure programs such as ASAP are critical for improving safety.

"It is disheartening to see some of our carriers and pilot unions abandoning these programs at a time when we need them the most," Sturgell said. "I encourage you to separate safety from the labor issues and put these programs back in place."