WATERLOO - A new NASA report on airline safety procedure almost has been overlooked by those in the air travel business locally, just as the Federal Aviation Administration calls 2008 "the safest period in aviation history."

Though the results of the National Aviation Operational Monitoring Service Project yielded startling new information about potential safety problems in air transportation, neither NASA nor the FAA will conclude there are any problems with the industry's method of tracking safety violations.

That's the main reason local air transport officials aren't concerned with the data, published Dec. 31. Waterloo Regional Airport Director Bradley Hagen said Friday he's more comfortable with the Federal Aviation Administration's method - pilots must voluntarily report incidents within a 24-hour period - than with a new NASA methodology, which relied on pilot recall over a two- to three-year period.

"These programs have been ongoing for many years," Hagen said. "The airports work closely with the FAA with programs specifically designed to reduce incursions at airports, and they have been for many years."

Locally, Hagen said Waterloo's airport is one of the safest as well.

"From our perspective, we haven't had any deviations for some time," he said, adding, "There's less activity, so less chance (of an incident)."

The Midwest region, known as ACE, has one of the lowest incursion rates in the country, according to the FAA. Out of 370 incidents reported in fiscal year 2007, only eight were attributed to ACE. And though the number of national incidents is a spike from 330 in 2006, ACE declined by nearly 50 percent.

Even before it was released, the FAA scoffed at NASA's NAOMS study because of its potential to contain repeat incidents from multiple respondents and the unusually large recall period.

"We're in the safest period in aviation history," said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.

Tim Newton, manager of Livingston Aviation in Waterloo, said his charter flight and maintenance business normally relies solely on FAA reports, and said there has been "no talk" regarding the NASA study. Eastern Iowa Airport Director of Marketing and Communications Pam Hinman noted she wasn't aware a study had been done.

The NAOMS project, which was conducted from April 2001 to December 2004, included interviews from more than 25,000 air carrier and general aviation personnel and asked a variety of questions relating to the type and frequency of incidents on the ground or in the air, including near misses.

On the heels of the NAOMS project but unrelated to it, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association released to the public Thursday a letter detailing what it calls "a national crisis in air transportation," which was sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and several congressional members last week.

The letter said almost 10 percent, or more than 1,000, of the already-depleted workforce in air traffic control is set to retire within the next year, and NATCA and the FAA are still locked in contract negotiations.

"We simply cannot safely handle the volume of air traffic that the FAA is currently demanding of us, let alone even attempt to do so with further staff losses in the weeks ahead," NATCA president Patrick Forrey wrote.

The FAA's Cory said the agency's hiring has surpassed the retirements, and she does not forsee any losses in air traffic control.

Contact Amie Steffen at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.