Faa Reauthorization Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Chair, last year was the safest on record for commercial air travel, and the United States has one of the safest systems in the world.

However, last Tuesday's emergency landing by Southwest Airlines Flight 1380--and the tragic death of a passenger--Jennifer Riordan--is a call to action when it comes to assuring airline and passenger safety.

Tuesday's incident on Southwest Flight 1380 was caused when the aircraft's left engine suddenly exploded mid-flight.

Metal weakness or ``metal fatigue'' was found in the left jet engine that failed during the flight of Southwest 1380.

This issue is one of the reasons I have introduced an amendment to H.R. 4, the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act.

The FAA needs to understand the full scope of any and all dangers connected to metal fatigue.

My amendment instructs the FAA Administrator to produce a report on airline and passenger safety within 180 days of House passage.

More specifically, my amendment instructs the FAA to study the issue of metal fatigue as well as the age and over-all use of U.S. commercial aircraft.

Additionally, Mr. Chairman, I imagine many in this room have seen the 60 Minutes report on Allegiant Air.

The report exposed numerous safety problems at Allegiant Air, a low- cost carrier that is more than three times as likely to have in-flight mechanical emergencies than any other major airline.

I'm deeply concerned about the issues at Allegiant.

I also worry about reports that the FAA has shied away from punishing airlines that cut corners with regards to passenger safety. That's just flat-out unacceptable.

Finally, Congress needs to be concerned about the practice of offshoring U.S. aircraft maintenance to foreign repair stations.

Today, approximately 24 percent of total heavy aircraft maintenance is offshored to repair facilities in other countries, more than triple the share offshored in 2003.

This offshoring has cost hardworking Americans thousands of aircraft maintenance jobs.

This practice has also raised real concerns regarding the level of U.S. oversight on offshored maintenance work.

Safety and security regulatory gaps persist, creating a double standard for domestic maintenance workers and workers overseas.

A dangerous double standard that could result in an airline-- passenger tragedy.

That's why my amendment also instructs the FAA to review policies regarding maintenance performed by contractors.

Overall, our mission is simple, clear and all-important:

To empower the FAA to root out any problems in the hopes of preventing any further tragedies.

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