The United States suffers an acute shortage of experienced air traffic controllers, which increases controller fatigue, and ploys like the Bush Administration’s opening up of military airspace will not get at the heart of the problems, claims Patrick Forrey, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the controllers’ union.

A new report by government auditors details how bomb parts and various like items were smuggled past screeners at 19 airport checkpoints across the United States.

The 14 November report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) set off a flurry of press coverage and a Congressional hearing, right at the advent of the Holiday travel season. A ban on carry-on bags would provide a marked increase in security, given the way GAO investigators succeeded in passing through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening checkpoints undetected, but this course is not likely, given that the Bush administration is taking steps to expedite holiday travel by freeing up some military airspace along the east coast of the United States.

The full report of an aviation safety review will be made available to “any interested party,” assured Michael Griffin, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), following news accounts that information gleaned from surveys of 24,000 pilots was being suppressed out of concern that they could be misconstrued by a public skittish about the safety of flying.

One is struck by two things regarding the “Most Wanted” aviation safety recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB): how basic they are, and how the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has engaged in seemingly endless foot-dragging in not implementing them. It is all the sadder because there is no doubt that the implementing the “Most Wanted” recommendations would materially enhance safety.