The House passed a bill Tuesday that seeks to put some distance between safety inspectors for the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines they regulate.

The bill (HR 6493), passed 392-0, would bar Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors who leave the government to work for an airline from representing that carrier before the FAA for two years.

The bill also would require the FAA to rotate its principal maintenance inspectors every five years.

Lawmakers fear the relationship between FAA inspectors and the airlines has become too cozy, leading to laxity in the enforcement of safety standards.

"We found that there was a change in attitude at the FAA, a shift away from insisting on those high standards," said James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"Consider this a first or initial legislative step in reversing the complacency over safety regulations that's set in at the highest levels of the Federal Aviation Administration," he said.