Arnold SAFETY Consulting T


By Eric Arnold, President of Arnold Safety Consulting, Inc. New Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Leadership


he FMCSA once again has nominated a new leader. To refresh your memory, the FMCSA is the division which regulates large vehicles on the highways within the


larger United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). The new Secretary of Transportation is Sean Duffy, former Republican Congressman from Wisconsin. Mr. Duffy has nominated Derek Barrs to head the FMCSA. Barrs was for- merly one of the Florida Highway Patrol’s top safety leaders, and most recently had been appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to the Flager County School Board. What is interesting about this nomination is Barrs replaces


Adrienne Camire, a government lawyer, who was chief counsel for the Federal Highway Administration during the first Trump Administration. Camire was named as the Acting Administrator


One of the more famous aviation crashes took place on July


16, 1999. This was the date when the small plane piloted by John F. Kennedy, Jr. crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing him as well as his wife and sister-in-law. Kennedy took off from the Essex County Airport in north-


ern New Jersey at 8:38pm on Friday, July 16, 1999, head- ing for Martha’s Vineyard Airport, off the coast of southern Massachusetts. Kennedy was a relatively inexperienced pilot, especially


in poor weather conditions. When it is cloudy or hazy, an airplane pilot must be trained to fly without visual cues, in- stead relying only on the cockpit instruments to fly. Kennedy wasnot anticipating badweatheronthatFridaynight. Nonetheless, a haze quickly covered his route as he moved out over the Long Island Sound. Unfortunately, it is relatively common for inexperienced pi-


lots to experience spatial disorientation when flying in cloudy conditions. In fact, it is so common, they have assigned it an acronym: IIMC,orInadvertent EntryintoInstrument Meteorological Conditions.


IIMC is very dangerous. Even


experienced pilots can become disoriented when plunging unexpectedly into low-visibility conditions. In the case of the inexperienced Kennedy, he rapidly became confused. The longer he flew in the clouds, the more confused he got, rap- idly losing his ability to determine which way was up. Within minutes, Kennedy had flown the plane into a death spiral. Investigators believe the plane was almost upside-down when it struck the water at a high rate of speed, about 10 miles east of Martha’s Vineyard. The safety lesson here is the conditions at the beginning of your trip may not be the conditions at the end of your trip.


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by Duffy just two (2) weeks ago. Camire has mysteriously van- ished, as neither she nor the FMCSA has commented on her abrupt departure and replacement by Barrs. Her presence has been almost entirely scrubbed from the FMCSA website. My educated guess is that Camire was not sufficiently ready


to shake things up regulatory-wise. Or at least not enough to suit Duffy, and the industry groups, both of which support a hands-off regulatory regime. Camire’s background is that of a New England lawyer. Based on my extensive knowledge of pol- itics, the chances that a woman attorney from Massachusetts is a Republican is about 25%, maybe less. She probably was not on-board with the Trump Administration’s vow to stream- line and eliminate regulations. I view the nomination of Barrs to replace Camire as a good thing.


Safety Stories and Lessons


Check the weather and be prepared. Have a backup plan in mind. What am I going to do if there’s snow? Fog? A vicious thunderstorm? A second broader lesson is ‘don’t bite off more than you


can chew.’ Or, put another way, know your limitations. Make sure you’re familiar with the safe operation of whatever fancy power tool or vehicle you’re operating. The minute you take safety for granted, disaster is knocking at your door.


Eric Arnold, President of Arnold Safety Consulting, Inc. is a former U.S.


Department of Transportation agent, with over 33 years regulatory and trans- portation compliance experience, and has been an OABA member for the past 20 years. His column will appear periodically in ShowTime magazine. As part of your OABA dues, Mr. Arnold is available for free consultations regard- ing the FMCSA rules and regulations.


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