747FOCAL
6th Jan 2005, 17:21
Agency Official Says Lobbying Hindered Airline Crash Inquiry
New York Times 01/06/05
author: Matthew L. Wald
c. 2005 New York Times Company
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 - In a sign that the system used to find the cause of airplane crashes meshed poorly with the legal mechanism for assigning blame, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that the inquiry into the 2001 crash of American Airlines 587, in Queens, was made harder by lobbying by the airline and the plane's builder, Airbus.
At a breakfast meeting with reporters, the chairwoman, Ellen Engleman Conners, said, "Every hour we spend in meetings is an hour we're not focusing on the accident."
American and Airbus are defendants in suits filed by families of the dead in that crash, on Nov. 12, 2001, which killed all 260 people on board and 5 more on the ground.
As the safety board approached a final decision on the crash last fall, the two companies were jockeying not only over the final division of costs, but also over their reputations for safety. According to people at the safety board, both sought meetings with the five board members and the professional staff, to argue over what conclusions should be drawn.
That lobbying helped stretch the investigation to nearly three years, Ms. Engleman Conners said.
American, a unit of the AMR Corporation, brought management pilots and crash investigators to Washington to meet with reporters several times last year, and said it was meeting with board members and staff. Airbus, a unit of the European military contractor EADS, conducted a lower-key campaign, but one of its executives was John K. Lauber, who was a member of the safety board for 10 years, and board staff members said he, too, had been active.
Ms. Engleman Conners said she was not proposing limits on the access of parties to the safety board.
Bruce Hicks, a spokesman for American, said, "We believe we had fruitful, productive discussions with board members and staff throughout the process."
Mary Anne Greczyn, a spokeswoman for Airbus, said communication between the parties and the board members was essential because only one member of the board at the time of the crash was still there when the vote came on approving the conclusions, 35 months later.
New York Times 01/06/05
author: Matthew L. Wald
c. 2005 New York Times Company
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 - In a sign that the system used to find the cause of airplane crashes meshed poorly with the legal mechanism for assigning blame, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that the inquiry into the 2001 crash of American Airlines 587, in Queens, was made harder by lobbying by the airline and the plane's builder, Airbus.
At a breakfast meeting with reporters, the chairwoman, Ellen Engleman Conners, said, "Every hour we spend in meetings is an hour we're not focusing on the accident."
American and Airbus are defendants in suits filed by families of the dead in that crash, on Nov. 12, 2001, which killed all 260 people on board and 5 more on the ground.
As the safety board approached a final decision on the crash last fall, the two companies were jockeying not only over the final division of costs, but also over their reputations for safety. According to people at the safety board, both sought meetings with the five board members and the professional staff, to argue over what conclusions should be drawn.
That lobbying helped stretch the investigation to nearly three years, Ms. Engleman Conners said.
American, a unit of the AMR Corporation, brought management pilots and crash investigators to Washington to meet with reporters several times last year, and said it was meeting with board members and staff. Airbus, a unit of the European military contractor EADS, conducted a lower-key campaign, but one of its executives was John K. Lauber, who was a member of the safety board for 10 years, and board staff members said he, too, had been active.
Ms. Engleman Conners said she was not proposing limits on the access of parties to the safety board.
Bruce Hicks, a spokesman for American, said, "We believe we had fruitful, productive discussions with board members and staff throughout the process."
Mary Anne Greczyn, a spokeswoman for Airbus, said communication between the parties and the board members was essential because only one member of the board at the time of the crash was still there when the vote came on approving the conclusions, 35 months later.