FAA Says Public Accountability Is Dangerous

The Federal Aviation Administration thinks you can’t handle the truth.

The agency has quietly moved to ban public disclosure of bird-strike records — information that chronicles where and when commercial aircraft were hit by birds.

It’s bad enough some citizens are under suspicion of being terrorists every time they board a plane. But despite the Obama administration’s pledge of government transparency, the FAA thinks the public is too stupid to understand the data.

"The complexity of the information warrants care with its interpretation; releasing this information without benefit of proper analysis would not only produce an inaccurate perception of the individual airports and airlines but also inaccurate and inappropriate comparisons between airports/airlines," the FAA wrote March 19 in the Federal Register.

The proposal comes two months after a US Airways jet splashed into the Hudson River when birds felled its engines. All 155 people aboard survived. Following the crash, the FAA promised to divulge the detailed data.

But, according to the FAA, the public isn’t ready for information.

"Airports voluntarily report bird-strike data to understand their wildlife hazards better and to streamline allocating wildlife mitigation funding," The FAA wrote. "Inaccurate portrayals of airports and airlines could have a negative impact on their participation in reporting bird strikes. It is the willingness of airports to participate, to better understand, and to better address their unique set of wildlife hazards that highlights why voluntary reporting works."

The agency is accepting public comments on the proposal through April 20.

The FAA, however, divulges limited information concerning what it called "wildlife threats" or strikes. The number of strikes annually reported more than quadrupled from 1,759 in 1990 to a record 7,666 in 2007.

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