HOUSE AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE SCRUTINIZES FAA ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN

HOUSE AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE SCRUTINIZES FAA ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN    The House Aviation Subcommittee wants to clean up lingering problems with the Federal Aviation Administration’s management structure.
   The subcommittee’s main concerns are the FAA’s Air Traffic Services Oversight Committee and Chief Operating Office, which were created under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21).
   “Today we turn from our focus on security to examine the long-term structural problems with the FAA,” said John Mica, R-Fla., the Aviation Subcommittee chairman, at an oversight hearing Tuesday. “It’s time we looked at fixing this vital agency’s dysfunctional structure.”
   So far, the FAA chief operating officer position is still “ill-defined” and remains unfilled, Mica said.
   “When I inquired of Secretary (Norman) Mineta last year why the position remained vacant, he replied in one word — ‘pay,’ ” Mica said. “So, last November, in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, we adjusted the compensation of the COO dramatically upward. However, there is still no COO. It is apparent that the problem goes beyond the COO’s salary.”
   FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, who concludes her five-year term at the agency in August, acknowledged that management problems persist. “Clearly our work is not done,” she said at the hearing. “Improving national airspace system safety and efficiency is not a stationary goal. It is a process.”
   Garvey outlined her recommendations for the FAA’s reorganization:
   * Streamline the appointments to the Management Advisory Council.
   * Make the Air Traffic Services Board independent of the Management Advisory Council.
   * Change the role and appointment of the chief operating officer.
   “One idea that I would like to offer is separating the air traffic control portion of FAA from the rest of the agency,” Mica said. “The Oversight Board and the chief operating officer would move to this new unit to manage the day-to-day operations of the air traffic control system.”
   “The administrator would continue to lead the FAA and would be responsible for ensuring the safety of air traffic control as well as other aspects of the aviation system,” Mica added.