Airline executives and aviation safety experts testified about Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety oversight of airlines. Southwest executives assured the committee that safety is a top priority for them. They asserted that Southwest planes are routinely inspected and defended lapses as recordkeeping errors. They discussed changes made after learning of the allegations that FAA managers had ignored unsafe conditions at Southwest for years. John Brassler discussed the unprofessional behavior and hostility he’d observed in the Southwest FAA unit from 2005 to 2007. Committee member’s questions focused whether the FAA had fulfilled its safety oversight role.