The US FAA has a program called IASA (International Aviation Safety Assessment) which it uses to:
- Determine a country's aviation access rights to the US
- Inform US travelers abroad where they are safe to fly
The IASA program audits a CAA (in this case the DCA aka DCAT) to ensure they meet ICAO minimum standards for annexes 1,6 & 8.
In July 2007, the FAA informed the DCA they had "serious deficiencies" in their oversight of Thai-based aviation. They NEVER notified the public of these issues.
In September 2007, Orient Thai's One-Two-Go OG269 crashed on landing in Phuket, Thailand, killing 90 people, including 5 Americans.*
In January 2008, the FAA told the DCA they had sufficiently remediated their deficiencies.
In my effort for a proper investigation into the crash of OG269, I learned of serious and dangerous deficiencies in Thai-based aviation - not only at Orient Thai. In April of '08, I made contact with the FAA international branch. They agreed to receive and review the evidence I was provided. Despite that proof and testimony from pilots and others working in commercial aviation in Thailand, the FAA re-affirmed their findings that Thailand met the minimum ICAO standards in August 2008.
An aide to Congressman Frank and I met with the FAA on Oct 27, 2008 to discuss their findings in the face of significant proof of dangerous and illegal flight on international Thai-based airlines, well-known and
overlooked by the DCA.
The FAA brought in lawyer Mark Bury. Mr. Bury (repeatedly) said, "The FAA can not say a country is safe or that they have proper oversight or that they maintain proper oversight. The FAA can only say that at a particular moment in time, the FAA found the country to meet the minimum ICAO standards for annexes 1,6, and 8."
I am assured by sources with contacts at higher levels of the FAA, that the FAA is well aware of the significant issues with Thai-based aviation, yet has chosen to deal
not harshly with Thailand rather than meet their mandate of keeping Americans safe.
Because the FAA has taken no action to warn the public. I am making public the material I was provided**. The website is
www.dontflythai.com. It is currently under construction. ***
*No intent of minimizing the deaths of non-Americans, just noting that the FAA's responsibilies included those 5 Americans lost. The dead were citizens of Australian, Britian, France, Ireland, Iran, Isreali, Sweeden and Thailand, plus injuries to other people and nationalities.
**When authorized by the source.
*** I felt it important to get this information into the public domain asap. For information specific to Orient Thai, see InvestigateUdom.com
proof and evidence.