FAA accused of leadership vacuum

American Airlines canceled another 900 flights yesterday to check for wiring problems as lawmakers complained that a lack of leadership at the Federal Aviation Administration contributed to recent safety lapses.

Airlines have canceled thousands of flights over the past month for overlooked safety inspections and maintenance that should have been completed months ago. American Airlines canceled nearly 2,500 flights in three days this week, disrupting the lives and schedules of more than 200,000 passengers.

As cancellations and confusion continue spreading to airports across the nation, some members of Congress are wondering whether a dispute with the Bush administration that has left the FAA with no top administrator for months contributed to the safety breakdown.

They also implied that some FAA managers are likely to be fired.

“Sometimes you got to fire people to make a point,” Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Democrat, said yesterday during a Senate hearing on airline safety.

Concerns about the lack of a permanent FAA administrator also have been raised by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“With nobody in charge, it’s hard to move projects forward,” said Rep. John L. Mica, Florida Republican.

The FAA’s previous administrator, Marion C. Blakey, ended her five-year term in September.

“Maybe things got a little bit lax” since then, Mr. Mica said.

Some members of Congress have said an administrator confirmed by the Senate might have helped avoid a tendency of FAA inspectors to accept safety reports from airlines rather than performing their own inspections.

Congress has deadlocked over whether Bobby Sturgell, the Bush administration’s choice to lead the FAA, should be confirmed as the agency’s administrator. He is serving as acting administrator until the Senate confirms a replacement for a five-year term.

Mr. Sturgell’s nomination has been blocked by Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, New Jersey Democrat, who says Mr. Sturgell helped create some of the inspection policies that led to the safety lapses.

“I regret to say this is a management failure at the highest level of the FAA,” Mr. Lautenberg said yesterday at the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing.

Neither the senators nor witnesses said the lack of a permanent FAA administrator caused the safety oversights, but suggested a new administrator is needed to prevent lapses such as allowing commercial aircraft to fly with cracked fuselages.

“That is a problem,” said Tom Brantley, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. His Washington-based organization is a labor union representing more than 11,000 FAA and Defense Department aviation employees.

The safety problems appear to be deep-seated in the way the FAA operates, he said.

“It’s as much cultural as anything,” Mr. Brantley said.

Mr. Brantley told the Senate committee yesterday that the FAA has become too “focused on working in partnership with the airlines,” even to the point of “ignoring warnings from its own inspector work force.”

The FAA has stepped up its inspections in response to safety oversights pointed out in Congress. They resulted in the widespread aircraft groundings in recent weeks.

Alaska Airlines canceled 11 more flights yesterday as it continued to inspect its nine Boeing MD-80 jets. The airline canceled 28 flights Wednesday and three on Tuesday.

Midwest Airlines canceled at least 10 flights yesterday after it grounded all 13 of its MD-80 planes to check their wiring.

Delta Air Lines planned to ground “a handful of flights” yesterday, spokeswoman Betsy Talton said. The carrier operates 117 MD-80 jets.

The latest checks are part of a second phase of audits being carried out by the FAA, which came under pressure from lawmakers after its inspectors allowed Southwest Airlines to fly 117 airplanes beyond their scheduled inspection dates last year. Some of them had cracks in their fuselages.

At American Airlines, a return to normal operations depends on how quickly mechanics inspect and fix the wiring. The inspections can take as little as 15 minutes.

Disruptions for passengers at Washington-area airports were minimal yesterday, airport officials said.

“The airlines are dealing with their customers and they’re rebooking them on other flights,” said Tara Hamilton, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. “There clearly are people at the ticket counters trying to get on other flights.”

• This story is based in part on wired service reports.