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NASA To Release Air Safety Study

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The Associated Press

Published: November 1, 2007

WASHINGTON - Abandoning its secrecy claims, NASA promised Congress on Wednesday it will reveal results of an unprecedented federal aviation survey that found aircraft near collisions, runway interference and other safety problems occur far more often than previously recognized.

The agency's chief also said that before it makes any release, NASA would scrub the data to make sure none of the 24,000 pilots interviewed anonymously could be identified, taking until the end of the year to do what a survey expert told Congress could be done in a week.

Provoking broad criticism, NASA had said previously it was withholding the information because it feared it would upset air travelers and hurt airline profits. NASA cited those reasons in refusing to turn over the survey data to The Associated Press, which sought the information over 14 months under the Freedom of Information Act.

'We did say that, and that was the wrong thing to have said,' NASA's administrator, Michael Griffin, testified during an oversight hearing. 'I apologize. ... People make mistakes. This was a mistake.'

Lawmakers from both sides were harshly critical. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, said NASA's reasons for withholding the research were 'both troubling and unconvincing.'

'This appears to be a mess of NASA's own causing,' said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., top Republican on the committee's oversight and investigations panel. 'You've dug yourself in a hole. I can't say you're not digging yourself deeper from what I've heard at this hearing.'

Griffin said his agency will release the research data that does not contain what he described as confidential commercial information. He said NASA spent $11.3 million on the research.

'The survey results we can legally release will be released, period,' he said.

Griffin's end-of-the-year timetable wasn't fast enough for some lawmakers.

'Shouldn't it be a priority to your agency to scrub this and get this out to the public immediately?' asked Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill.

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