The U.S. should revive and expand an aviation safety survey run by NASA to identify problems like lapses in inspections that canceled thousands of flights this past spring, the chairman of a House Science and Technology panel said.

Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., urged the Federal Aviation Administration Thursday to revive the NASA effort. The space agency had interviewed thousands of pilots about safety issues before killing the project at the end of 2004. Miller said he also is investigating whether the FAA had a role in stopping the program, something FAA officials have denied.

The research gained attention last year when NASA rejected a request by The Associated Press to review the results, saying that disclosing the information could have a negative effect on airline profits and public confidence in the airlines. NASA released parts of the data months later under pressure, including thousands of pages that were deliberately scrambled so no one could identify the pilots who were promised anonymity to participate.

Miller, chairman of the Science and Technology subcommittee on oversight, said the project should be expanded to interview airport ground crews and inspectors who oversee airline compliance with FAA directives. In a letter to FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell, Miller said mechanics might have reported overdue inspections that caused airlines to ground planes and disrupt passengers earlier this year.

"The fact that pilots would volunteer to take a 30-minute survey certainly suggested the pilots had a few things they wanted others to know about," Miller told the AP in an interview.

Miller noted that Transportation Department investigators last month found FAA's oversight of airlines too lenient.

"It now appears it would have been very useful to have a different source of information about airline safety," Miller said.

The FAA said its own monitoring systems already ensure safe skies. It criticized NASA's telephone survey for relying on pilots' subjective memory, and said the questions were too broad or imprecise. NASA's data appeared to show some safety problems occurring more frequently than FAA recorded.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has called the defunct project flawed and lacking benefit to the public. The agency does not plan to restart it but always considers requests from Congress, spokesman David Mould said.

The FAA will review Miller's letter and "determine the best way to respond," spokesman Les Dorr said.

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