Keith Epstein

Deadly Delays: Bureaucracy is Killing Us

In the air, on highways, along rails, and on school buses, death recurs as bureaucrats dawdle

Plain Dealer – Feburary 28, 1993

SERIES: DEADLY DELAYS: RED TAPE COST LIVES

Part One of a five-part series.
by KEITH EPSTEIN

PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

WASHINGTON

In swirling snow, USAir’s Flight 405 pulled away from the terminal at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, bound for Cleveland. The two men at the controls had taken the usual winter precautions, checking for ice and having the wings sprayed with antifreeze.

Moments later, as they waited for takeoff, they wished their Fokker F-28 could get a last-minute shower of de-icing chemicals the way jets do in Denver and at many European airports.

“The only sure-fire safe way,” the pilot said to his co-pilot.

They didn’t realize just how precarious their situation was.

The federal government knew for seven years.

U.S. safety officials repeatedly had pinpointed the cause of nine crashes of planes with wing designs similar to that of Flight 405 – the wing’s high vulnerability to trace amounts of ice.

Yet Washington had done nothing to require simple, proven remedies advocated for years, such as checking the wings by hand or spraying with a stronger antifreeze just before takeoff.

As a result, the pilots of Flight 405 last March were forced to use outmoded methods of coping with ice on wings. The plane barely lifted before flipping into Flushing Bay in a fiery crash that claimed 27 lives.

Passenger Denise Miller watched her father die in the final burst of flames. Miller, who now must use a wheelchair, asks: “How many plane crashes have to occur? How many people have to die, before somebody finally does something?”

These deadly delays by the federal bureaucracy are not limited to air travel.

A Plain Dealer investigation found that long after wreckage is examined for clues, causes determined and solutions urged – thousands of Americans still risk death or injury in accidents because the causes weren’t fixed.

Motorists have died because many big trucks have faulty brakes – while for 14 years the government failed to require proven solutions such as anti-lock brakes and automatic brake adjusters costing only $204.

Children trapped in school buses when front or rear doors jammed were drowned or burned – while for 19 years the government failed to require an extra emergency exit costing $557. One manufacturer has offered emergency side doors as an option since the 1950s.

Passengers have died in commuter airliners that crashed on routine approaches to airports – while for 18 years the government failed to require the same low-altitude alarms it mandated for large jets. It would seem to be a bargain for commuters even at $14,600 for each $3 million aircraft.

Engineers and conductors have died in collisions on freight trains – while for 22 years the government failed to require automated warning systems to help keep trains apart.

Pilots and their passengers died in planes whose single engines choked, sputtered and crashed – while the government failed to require $655 remedies for carburetor flaws identified in 1963 and despite efforts of the manufacturer to alert owners.

And this year more than an estimated 100 motorists will be decapitated on the nation’s highways when their vehicles slide under the rear of big trucks – while for 25 years the government failed to require a $112 protective guard.

“We know when we investigate an accident we’re going to see it again,” said Jim Burnett, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Train crews die and poisonous gases turn neighborhoods into ghost towns because of defective track, federal safety records show. Even on the ground at the nation’s airports, commercial jets repeatedly ram one another for want of a ground radar system advocated for 20 years. Planes have collided on runways 175 times since 1982, claiming 56 lives.

“The same stupid stuff keeps happening,” observed retired federal aviation accident investigator Rudolf Kasputin, who first urged the ground radar in 1972. “It’s not just frustrating. It makes me want to throw up.”

Federal agencies have acted on only two of 18 long-ignored safety improvements identified by the safety board in 1990 as urgently needed safety improvements that could save nearly 3,000 lives each year.

Transportation Department policy makes “safety … the top priority.” Yet regulators acknowledge their increasing inability to take prompt action, even when it would save lives.

“Everything takes too long nowadays,” said Anthony J. Broderick, the Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator.

Transportation experts describe a bureaucracy increasingly paralyzed by fear of lawsuits from regulated industries, hobbled by conflicts with other agencies, buffeted by meddling members of Congress and political appointees, and crippled by weak leadership unable to choose priorities or stick to deadlines.

“If the average American knew how things work here, they wouldn’t believe it,” said Fred Emery, former director of the Federal Register, the official publication of government rules. “They’d think it’s a God-awful mess.”

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Other stories from this series:

Ice on Jets – Recurring Risk, Tolerated for Years – Despite pinpointing causes of multiple commercial airliner crashes, Washington does nothing to require simple, proven remedies advocated for years

Flight 405: The Story of Four Passengers- Strangers on a plane, going about the routine business of flying, trusted that commercial aviation had become as safe as airlines and the government could make it.  They were wrong.

Killer Trucks – Why the Slaughter Won’t Stop – Trucks with self-adjusting brakes would have fewer accidents, causing less damage and saving hundreds of lives.  Yet the government dawdled in requiring them.

While Grownups Squabbled, Children Died – Battles between automakers and regulators for more than a decade stalled development of safer child seats.

Feds Shrug Off a Life-Saver for Commuter Planes – Commuter airline flights crashed repeatedly into the ground for lack of a simple device  urged for years by federal safety officials. The  FAA declined. Planes kept crashing.

Cessnas Crash, but Agencies Do Nothing -  For decades, Cessnas chocked from a carburetor flaw known to the manufacturer and the government. Yet pilots had never heard of the problem, and the government required no fix.

Yellow Coffins – Modern school buses are among the safest means of transport. Yet when accidents occur, children are often trapped. Still, the government for years allowed preventable tragedies to recur.

Safety Board Has No Teeth – The National Transportation Safety Board is widely known for investigating accidents. What many people don’t realize is that it’s powerless – a toothless tiger.