NASA's Bureaucracy

Back in October, I wrote about how NASA refused to release data from its $8.5-million study of airline pilots that concluded the number of near-misses in the airline industry is far greater than known. The agency had apparently been afraid that the results would undermine public confidence in the air travel and hurt airline profits.

Well, Chapter Two of the story has begun. Under mounting political pressure, administrators at NASA have apparently released all the data. And while that should be applauded, the way in which the agency did it was little more than a data dump as the Associated Press explained:

NASA published the findings — contained in 16,208 pages — but did not provide a roadmap to understand them, making it cumbersome for any thorough analysis by outsiders. Released on New Year's Eve, the unprecedented research conducted over nearly four years relates to safety problems identified by some 25,000 commercial pilots and more than 4,000 private pilots interviewed by telephone.

Worse still- the information is so scattered, USA Today reported:

The NASA data were difficult to analyze because efforts to ensure that none of the pilots interviewed was identifiable prompted the agency to delete detailed information about incidents described in the report.

The data contain hundreds of cryptic comments taken from pilot interviews on safety concerns such as fatigue, the potential for collisions with other planes and air traffic procedures.

There is no context for the comments. One record says only that "air crew falling asleep." In another, a pilot complains about the danger of a midair collision at a specific airport, which was identified as "airport x."

This arrogance- and refusal to use taxpayer money judiciously- is a leading reason why NASA is a major bureaucratic has-been. I have personally always been interested and fascinated by outer space. But judging by this bureaucratic read-tape, it appears NASA is no longer capable of functioning.