Washington, D.C. – A series of recent aviation incidents involving U.S. passenger airlines prompted Rep. Kevin Mullin, CA-15, to lead a group of Congressional representatives from around the country to request an investigation and further information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB.)
There have been at least 11 high-profile safety incidents on domestic airlines in March 2024 alone, several of which have forced emergency landings and one in which an airplane lost a wheel during takeoff. Many of these incidents occurred at San Francisco International Airport, located in California’s 15th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Mullin, and serving millions of passengers a year. Other recent incidents occurred in Texas as well as Florida, and the nature of air travel means this issue affects the entire country.
“The latest string of incidents is a troubling pattern that federal regulators must investigate and share information about, so that we can provide assurances to the public that we are holding everyone accountable and to the highest safety standards,” Mullin said.
While noting that air travel on U.S. carriers remains one of the safest modes of transportation, the lawmakers wrote a letter asking the FAA and NTSB to share what steps they are taking to investigate these incidents and reduce the risk of such safety and mechanical issues in the future.
Specifically, the letter requests an investigation into whether any of the incidents within the past several months were related, whether any aircraft involved in these incidents were overdue for maintenance at the time of the incident, and whether additional crew training, changes in maintenance schedules, or other operational changes could likely prevent incidents such as these going forward.
The letter was authored by Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) and co-signed by Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Anna Eshoo (CA-16), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Mary Peltola (AK), Katie Porter (CA-47), and Norma Torres (CA-35). The full letter can be found here.
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