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Criticism of the FAA has been growing. The National Transportation Safety Board (a federal agency that investigates air disasters and can make safety recommendations to the FAA), the 46,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, the 14,000-member Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, and congressional committees have attacked the FAA for not acting aggressively enough. For years the agency has been reluctant to take a tough line with either the airlines or the manufacturers.
A holdover from the Ford Administration, McLucas resigned last week—as previously planned—from the post of FAA Administrator. As his successor, Jimmy Carter has nominated Langhorne M. Bond, 40, the secretary of the Illinois department of transportation. Bond will have the job of finding ways to develop the necessary devices and programs to reduce even further the hazards of flying. Then Bond will have to persuade and direct the nation's great airline companies to do what is best. It need not be that difficult an assignment: as a whole, the industry has been willing and often eager to spend the required money to modify aircraft in the interests of safety. There are few industries where the interests of the providers and the consumers are so inextricably linked.