In July 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stepped up oversight of Southwest Airlines, after the airline had a series of close calls, mostly involving pilot error. Since then, the FAA has been auditing the airline to figure out if there are any areas for improvement, and the results are in…
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FAA identifies no safety issues at Southwest
Last week, the FAA put out a statement regarding its Southwest safety audit, indicating that it has “finished its Certificate Holder Evaluation Program (CHEP) of Southwest Airlines,” and that “the review did not identify any significant safety issues.”
In response to this, Southwest issued a statement that it “appreciates the opportunity to engage with the FAA as part of our mutual dedication to safety,” and that “nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.”
I suppose that’s positive, in the sense that the carrier’s protocols are in line with what they should be. But in some way it’s almost more concerning, when you consider the frequency of issues we’ve seen at the airline (as I recently covered), and that nothing is wrong.
Southwest is one of two major US airlines to be under increased scrutiny from the FAA in recent times. In March 2024, the FAA similarly audited United (more related to maintenance than piloting), and also found nothing wrong.
Why was Southwest being audited by the FAA?
Southwest is a massive airline that carries more passengers than any other US airline. The carrier historically had a great safety record, so why was the airline suddenly under increased scrutiny from regulators?
Well, it came after a shocking number of close calls at the Dallas-based carrier. Just in the months leading up to the investigation being opened, we saw a scary go around in Hawaii, a dangerously low approach in Oklahoma City, an inflight Dutch roll, taking off from a closed runway, and a dangerously low approach in Tampa. And those are just several of the incidents that have been reported and have been made public, so who knows how many other incidents are out there.
With the FAA not having found anything wrong, one certainly has to wonder what conclusion we should draw from the number of incidents at Southwest?
- Is the number of close calls at Southwest just normal, but with the public increasingly listening to ATC audio and tracking flight movements, it’s just getting more publicity?
- Is this just what happens when the average seniority in the cockpit is way down due to the pandemic, and you’re an airline as big as Southwest?
- Were the number of incidents just a really unlucky coincidence, and there’s nothing more to it?
Bottom line
The FAA has concluded its safety audit of Southwest, and has found no major points of concern. The investigation was started after the airline had a series of close calls, mostly involving pilot error either on takeoff or approach. While pilots are only human and make mistakes, the number of issues we saw really was a head-scratcher.
What do you make of the FAA concluding its Southwest safety audit?
Look at you ignoring all the issues with Delta and whining that Southwest wasn't found to have systemic issues. Shocking.
Because the FAA must work overtime for SpaceX — wasn’t that the lame excuse the FAA made for not being able to get their work done?
If you want to see a more thorough report on the safety culture at Southwest go back to 2020 and read the findings of the DOT Inspector General’s 18 month audit of Southwest. The IG’s report was truly a harbinger of the incidents that have occurred since the report was issued. Now along comes a three or four month study from the FAA that says there is nothing to see here. Based on the IG...
If you want to see a more thorough report on the safety culture at Southwest go back to 2020 and read the findings of the DOT Inspector General’s 18 month audit of Southwest. The IG’s report was truly a harbinger of the incidents that have occurred since the report was issued. Now along comes a three or four month study from the FAA that says there is nothing to see here. Based on the IG report, and the recent FAA report, you really have to wonder how hard the FAA really looks at Southwest.
Are we sure these rubber stamps for UA and WN reflect FAA incompetence or corruption as opposed to reassurance for American PAX?
The FAA knows that this report is at the tail end of a Failed Biden administration with a worthless former mayor (Pete) of a Quaint Indiana town that is only known for a college that happens to have a football team.
The signers of this report are saying "the heck with this, we looked, we saw, nothing to see here... keep moving on".
This is now the problem with the Trump administration. Lucky,...
The FAA knows that this report is at the tail end of a Failed Biden administration with a worthless former mayor (Pete) of a Quaint Indiana town that is only known for a college that happens to have a football team.
The signers of this report are saying "the heck with this, we looked, we saw, nothing to see here... keep moving on".
This is now the problem with the Trump administration. Lucky, look foward to seeing your future post on the s... [whoops] crap show that LUV will have sometime in the near future. And then we will hang that turd around Trump and (nominated Transportation Secretary) Sean Duffy's neck.
I might suggest the way to read this:
"The safety audit did not find systematic issues at Southwest that are not present at most other carriers as well, or common to operating norms."
Perhaps the string of recent incidents is simply an outlier roll of dice of typical risks that happened to land multiple times on Southwest this time, and might equally have happened at any other carrier had the roll been different.
Presumably this is less so that Southwest is a perfectly safe airline with a robust safety and reporting culture…and more so that the FAA is incompetent (at best) or corrupt (at worst). Time will tell.
Of course FAA found nothing.
They didn't even find out what's wrong with the 737MAX until it's too late.
I think you are missing the possibility that the FAA is an at best ineffectual or worst corrupt organization and remains in bed with Boeing and possibly its predominant clients as well.
just because the FAA didn't find anything systemic at either UA or WN doesn't mean nothing significant happened.
It just means that the events are the result of individual actions rather than a systemic problem due to a lack of training and control regardless of whether it involves pilots or mechanics.
There undoubtedly were a few pilots at both WN and UA that were not following procedures but I suspect the investigations have made...
just because the FAA didn't find anything systemic at either UA or WN doesn't mean nothing significant happened.
It just means that the events are the result of individual actions rather than a systemic problem due to a lack of training and control regardless of whether it involves pilots or mechanics.
There undoubtedly were a few pilots at both WN and UA that were not following procedures but I suspect the investigations have made things alot safer and more standardized.
Remember when delta landed on a taxiway? Why doesn’t the dunce talk about that?
any person - intelligent or not - can figure out that something that happens once without a repeat is not reflective of any trend.
UA and WN both had multiple types of similar incidents.
and the FAA will review every airline at some point because that is what they do. They just accelerated UA and WN's reviews.
@Chuck, how on earth is that related to the topic at hand?
Same as the dunce talking about delta every topic.
Using your logic, the four, maybe five, incidents of stowaways this year on DL would be a trend.
then we should be talking about the dead body that finally was found when UA arrived in Hawaii.
Could have been there for 2 flights.... which would be a trend... not adequately knowing who was on a UA flight for 2 flights would be a trend.
then we should be talking about the dead body that finally was found when UA arrived in Hawaii.
Could have been there for 2 flights.... which would be a trend... not adequately knowing who was on a UA flight for 2 flights would be a trend.
"Could have been there"
That has not been proven yet.... Of course you deflect from DL and the five documented stowaway incidents in 2024. That is a pattern.
He is a Delta cuck. Always has been.
Please don't make him get off-topic, this was a sane comment for once.
Lmao, they're now mad about Tim Dunn being right?
I personally suspect it's a confluence of all the factors you mentioned. Less seniority = more incidents in general, several incidents coincidentally happening in a relatively short time frame, and increased public awareness of incidents in general. Social media can substantially amplify that last, even if nothing tragic (or heroic) resulted from the incident.
Yes, but have the amateur safety experts in the OMAAT comments done the same?