NASA Orders Destruction Of Air Traffic Data

[babylonsister]

NASA won't disclose air safety survey

By RITA BEAMISH, Associated Press Writer Mon Oct 22, 4:16 AM ET

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized.

NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly.

Just last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers.

The Associated Press learned about the NASA results from one person familiar with the survey who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss them.

A senior NASA official, associate administrator Thomas S. Luedtke, said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits. Luedtke acknowledged that the survey results "present a comprehensive picture of certain aspects of the U.S. commercial aviation industry."

The AP sought to obtain the survey data over 14 months under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

"Release of the requested data, which are sensitive and safety-related, could materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of, the air carriers and general aviation companies whose pilots participated in the survey," Luedtke wrote in a final denial letter to the AP. NASA also cited pilot confidentiality as a reason, although no airlines were identified in the survey, nor were the identities of pilots, all of whom were promised anonymity.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071022/ap_on_re_us/air_safety_secrets_3

[LeftHander]

1. Must be some 911 data to delete....nt

[babylonsister]

3. Nope. Read it. nt

[Pawel K]

9. Do you people have nothing better to do?

Please stop posting this bullshit here, makes us all look like idiots.

[GeminiProgressive]

2. WHAT THE HELL

WE PAID FOR THIS STUDY WE DESERVE TO SEE IT! THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT.

[Bonobo]

4. What about "informed consent"? Don't we have the right to know the risks?

Wasn't this study paid for by taxpayer money?

What a cheap, tin-can banana republic we have become...

[ShortnFiery]

5. "Lack of transparency" in our govt is one glaring red flag indicating the onset of TOTALITARIANISM.

:scared:

[Xipe Totec]

6. NASA - Never A Straight Answer nt

[AndyA]

7. So in other words, what we don't know won't hurt us. Thanks NASA.

That thought stream seems to run through most of government these days. So much for transparency. :eyes:

[babylonsister]

8. Exactly. Sure makes me wonder what's in that report though. nt

[havocmom]

15. More like: What we don't know won't hurt corporations

The systemic protection of corporations over people pretty much tells us what we need to know.

[druidity33]

10. i know why

they haven't released it. Too many pilots have reported seeing Unidentified Flying Objects. My guess would be nearly 70% of pilots have "seen something up there".

I'm pullin' this outta my but, but hey, tin foil hats don't seem so crazy anymore...

:)

[babylonsister]

11. I'd prefer that explanation instead of thinking the worst about the airlines. nt

[aquart]

12. No. That would only increase air travel.

When Reagan fired the controllers he set some nasty things in motion. Planted seeds which are about to bear fruit. They don't want us to know that we don't need no steenkeen terraists to die in a plane.

[Joanne98]

13. Since when was NASA in charge of airline profits?

[librechik]

14. hey--it doesn't help to let anyone know--since we are never going to do anything about it.

so shut up, citizen, If you die, you die!