http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-09-swissair_x.htm

Officials to probe use of aviation contractors
By Gary Stoller, USA TODAY

The General Accounting Office is launching an investigation into the
federal government's use of thousands of private companies to inspect
and certify airlines' planes and aircraft alterations.

GAO officials say the new probe was triggered by a Feb. 17 USA TODAY
article and a letter Friday from Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. He said
that the Federal Aviation Administration's use of private companies
has been criticized and that the newspaper story suggested "the
aviation industry was supervising itself without adequate controls
and oversight by FAA." (Related story: Doomed plane's gaming system
exposes holes in FAA oversight)

The article documented how a faulty interactive entertainment system
on a Swissair jet that crashed in September 1998 was incorrectly
installed and improperly certified by private companies. All 229
people aboard Flight 111, which left New York and plunged into the
Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia, were killed.

Canada's Transportation Safety Board will announce the findings of
its investigation on March 27. The board, which has been assisted by
the FAA, found early on that wires in the system and other wires
short-circuited and could have led to a fire.

The system was made by a small Las Vegas company, Interactive Flight
Technologies.

An FAA-approved contractor, Santa Barbara Aerospace, was hired to
certify that the system met FAA safety standards and oversee its
installation on Swissair jets. SBA's certification violated FAA
procedures, according to the FAA's post-crash review.

The FAA did not oversee SBA's work on the project aggressively, even
though it had criticized the company's work in the past, USA TODAY
reported, based on a review of FAA documents.

After the Swissair crash, the FAA found problems with the design,
installation and certification of IFT's systems and banned them. SBA
lost operating authority and went bankrupt.

Unknown to much of the traveling public, thousands of individuals and
companies like SBA have been increasingly used in the past few
decades to do the FAA's inspection and certification work. The FAA
relies on designees because it doesn't have enough staff or expertise
to monitor the large number of planes flying today. Critics charge
that designees may not be impartial certifiers, because they are
hired and paid by the companies that want their products certified.

The GAO has not yet set a timetable for completing its investigation
of the designee program, says Gerald Dillingham, the agency's
director of civil aviation issues.

The program and other issues raised by USA TODAY's article also
concern the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector
General. Deputy IG Todd Zinser says the office is "evaluating the
information to determine whether further investigation is warranted."

FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto says the agency is "ready to assist in
any review" of its programs. He wouldn't comment further.