FAA is too “cozy” with the airlines: Airlines NOT Passengers are FAA's customers

[FayeforCure]

June 10, 2009
FAA whistleblower alleges safety concerns were ignored
Posted: 11:57 AM ET
American Morning - amFIX
Filed under: Airline safety

FAA inspector Christopher Monteleon says the agency put business interests above safety.
By Laura Dolan and Allan Chernoff

A Senate hearing this afternoon will examine the Federal Aviation Administration and its oversight of air carriers. Some FAA inspectors say the FAA is too “cozy” with the airlines.

We spoke with one inspector who noted problems at regional airline Colgan Air a full year before the tragic crash in February near Buffalo, New York, that killed 50 people.

Christopher Monteleon was in charge of overseeing Colgan Air’s addition of a new aircraft to its fleet â€" the Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 â€" the same model involved in the Buffalo crash.

Monteleon reported trouble during Colgan Air’s testing of the new plane in January 2008.

“I observed from the cockpit operations all day long for the first day, and I observed unsafe practices. And I observed violations of the safety regulations. I observed pilots flying too fast for the design of the aircraft,” said Monteleon.

In his report Monteleon noted ‘the aircraft exceeded air speed limitation three times” and the pilots failed to note those violations so the plane could be properly inspected.

Excessive speed did not cause the February crash. The NTSB’s preliminary findings pointed to pilot error and mentioned pilot fatigue as a factor. But other problems Monteleon says he spotted at Colgan mirror issues uncovered in the Buffalo crash.


“I observed the pilots being fatigued to the point where their performance was impeded,” added Monteleon. He also says there was unnecessary conversation in the cockpit near landing that had nothing to do with flight operations, a violation of “sterile cockpit” rules.

Despite that, Monteleon says his supervisor told him to back off. He was instructed in a memo from an FAA manager, “not to have any contact with Colgan employees regarding Colgan Air business.”

“My supervisor called me into his office and said, ‘Stop your investigation.’ He said that these violations never occurred and that you are to erase the fact that you began the investigation from the FAA database,” Monteleon told CNN.

When Monteleon’s union filed a grievance, an FAA manager denied the claim, arguing the agency should be assisting Colgan’s business plans, an approach that “required management to immediately respond to the operator’s scheduling needs.” That “operator” â€" Colgan Air â€" was about to begin regional service for Continental Airlines using new Q-400 planes.

“I was told by my supervisor in writing that I was relieved in part because the FAA had been concerned about Colgan meeting its schedule. And that’s a tragedy in the making. That’s putting business interests ahead of safety,” said Monteleon.

Monteleon is just one of several people in the aviation industry who tell CNN the FAA needs to beef up enforcement.

Linda Goodrich, regional vice president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the union representing FAA inspectors, says, “There continue to be complaints from inspectors trying to do their jobs and they are frustrated with management â€" local management â€" who see the certification and relationship with the carrier as much more important than accountability.”

“It’s up to the management in these offices to balance that and they should be deferring to safety. But inspectors say local FAA management is deferring to the carriers,” added Goodrich.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Randy Babbitt, the new administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration plan to hold a summit meeting with the airline industry next week to seek better pilot training and other safety improvements. Babbitt said the Colgan crash made it clear that safety needs to be improved.

Monteleon’s career is in limbo. After a year of transfers, Monteleon spoke up at an FAA town hall meeting one month after the Buffalo plane crash. He identified himself as a whistleblower who had disclosed information regarding the airline whose plane was involved in that crash.

His lawyers maintain that that the FAA placed him on administrative leave just 14 days after the town hall meeting. He continues to be off work, though he is still being paid.

Monteleon’s attorneys say the FAA used an argument their client had with a staff attorney as an excuse to place him on paid administrative leave.

The FAA told CNN they did investigate Monteleon’s claims and found Colgan had not violated safety regulations. But the FAA did make changes in its oversight of Colgan. There is now a new manager in charge of inspections at the airline.

In response to Monteleon’s interview, Colgan Air spokesman Joe Williams told CNN, “Mr. Monteleon’s claims against us are baseless. We have no control over what the FAA chooses to do and applied no pressure whatsoever to create a situation where he was reassigned. Colgan Air met or exceeded every single FAA requirement necessary to add the Q-400 to its fleet.”

The FAA says it does not believe any of Mr. Monteleon’s reassignments were retaliatory, and cannot comment further because this is a personnel issue covered by privacy laws.

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/faa-whistleblower-alleges-safety-concerns-were-ignored/#more-3376

MONTELEON: They have had my aviation safety inspector credentials taken from me. It's just been humiliating.

CHERNOFF: Monteleon filed a complaint with the federal Office of Special Counsel, which investigates allegations of reprisal against whistleblowers. CNN has learned the OSC has found merit in Monteleon's case against the FAA.

He's not alone. The Office of Special Counsel tells CNN it has made a positive determination that the FAA improperly responded to 27 current cases of FAA employee whistleblowers warning of safety violations.

TOM DEVINE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT: It means that FAA is a very sick agency. There's never been an agency that has had that large of a surge of whistleblowers whose concerns were vindicated.

CHERNOFF: The Department of Transportation told CNN, "We acknowledge it's a large number of cases. We take all of them seriously."

But the Office of Special Counsel finds the FAA repeatedly retaliates against employees who flag safety problems, often deferring to the airlines they regulate.

The former inspector general of the transportation department in the 1990s, now an attorney for families of accident victims, says the problems she saw seemed to have gotten worse.

MARY SCHIAVO, FMR. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION INSPECTOR GENERAL: That's shocking. And it's really unconscionable for government agency that's supposed to be about safety, not about witch hunts for those who find safety lacking.

CHERNOFF: What's going on at the FAA? Critics say it's the culture. Former FAA administrator Marion Blakey in 2003 established a customer service initiative that defined airlines as customers, not the flying public. The current transportation department inspector general found FAA's definition of its customer has had a pervasively negative impact on its oversight program. While there's no evidence of illegal dealings, the FAA has had an active revolving door. Agency managers regularly going on to work in the aviation industry while industry executives take top spots at FAA.

Former FAA administrator Blakey is now president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. Former FAA chief operating officer Russell Chew moved on to become president of JetBlue Airways. FAA's chief operating officer of air traffic Hank Krakowski is a former United Airlines vice president. Linda Daschle, wife of the former Senate Democratic leader, was FAA's acting administrator, and then became a lobbyist representing the airline industry.

SCHIAVO: There's a very cozy relationship between the lobbyists for the industry and the Department of Transportation and the FAA.

CHERNOFF: In spite of past problems, the new transportation secretary and FAA chief say the agency will change. Whistleblowers will now get an open ear.

RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We will pay attention to any kind of complaint or accusation or any kind of concern that is expressed by an employee of the FAA. It's a new day at the FAA, and it's a new day at DOT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: While FAA says it does investigate all whistleblower safety concerns, it has resisted calls for an independent office within the agency to examine such claims. A pending House bill to reauthorize FAA would require the agency to create such an office. The bill would also require FAA to change its customer service initiative to remove any reference to airlines as customers. The Senate should be working on its version of the bill after the July 4th break.

As in all federal agencies, senior executives leaving the FAA are subject to a one-year cooling off period that forbids them from representing a client before the agency. The Office of Special Counsel has referred all 27 cases to the transportation secretary who is investigating and must tell the Special Counsel what steps will be taken to fix the safety problems.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0907/02/ltm.01.html


Transportation Secretary LaHood promises a new day for the FAA, to combat what is seen by wistleblowers as a "cultural problem with FAA against reporting safety problems:"

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/16/a-new-day-for-faa/

[FayeforCure]

Earlier attempts to reform the FAA:

Bills would slow revolving door between FAA, airlines


April 15, 2008
By Gregg Carlstrom
Federal Times


Two lawmakers are proposing legislation that would block former Federal Aviation Administration employees from working for airlines immediately after their retirement.

The legislation is a response to congressional testimony by FAA safety inspectors earlier this month; the whistleblowers described a cozy relationship between the agency and airlines that led to safety lapses. The bills, being drafted by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would create what Oberstar calls a "cooling-off period," during which FAA inspectors would be frozen out of airline jobs after retirement.

The Senate version would affect safety inspectors and supervisors; they would be prohibited from working for the airline industry for two years after leaving the agency.

The House legislation isn't as far along. Oberstar discussed the idea at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing April 3, but legislators haven't come up with any details. …

"There needs to be some level of transparency," said Nick Schwellenbach, an investigator at the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight. "The FAA should track where its former employees go. It would be interesting to know … if Southwest has hired former FAA inspectors in Texas and is now facing fewer adverse decisions by the FAA in that same region."

A cooling-off period was also one of several recommendations for improving the FAA in a report by Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel.

http://www.pogo.org/press-room/pogo-in-the-news/transportation/tr-faa-20080415.html

Unfortunately some legislators have a kneejerk reaction against any type of regulation, even it it means unsafe skies.

[BridgeTroll]

Clearly the greedy corporations who run the airlines should be replaced with a government run airline.  Think of the savings!  Ticket prices could be set by "ability to pay" so everyone has equal access to quality, safe, and inexpensive air travel...

[civil42806]

This is nothing new, but do wonder why in the world its posted on the Metrojax board.  Ever since the FAA was created there has been a natural confilict between its two mandates, one the promotion of aviation and the oversight of maintenace and  safety regulations.  The FAA management and the NTSB are constantly butting heads concerning regulations, safety and maintenance requirements.  The more regulations and restrictions you put on the employees the harder it will be to find them.

[FayeforCure]

This is nothing new, but do wonder why in the world its posted on the Metrojax board. 

Because Jax has an airport too.

Besides we keep looking at rail and other public transportation projects around the country to find ways to improve things in Jax.

[FayeforCure]

July 2, 2009
FAA whistle-blower safety warnings found to have merit
Posted: 12:14 PM ET
American Morning - amFIX
Filed under: Airline safety
By Allan Chernoff
CNN Sr. Correspondent

A federal investigation into Federal Aviation Administration employee whistle-blower safety complaints has found more than two dozen to be on the mark, CNN has learned, potentially putting the public’s safety at risk.

The federal Office of Special Counsel, which investigates allegations of reprisal against whistle-blowers, tells CNN it has made a “positive determination” that the FAA improperly responded to 27 current cases of FAA employee whistle-blowers warning of safety violations ranging from airline maintenance concerns to runway and air traffic control issues.

“It means that FAA is a very sick agency,” said Tom Devine, legal director of the non-profit Government Accountability Project. “There’s never been an agency that’s had that large of a surge of whistle-blowers whose concerns were vindicated by the government’s official whistle-blower protection office.”

The Department of Transportation told CNN, “We acknowledge it’s a large number of cases.”

“We take whistle-blower complaints very seriously and we fully cooperate with all of the investigations,” said FAA spokesperson Laura J. Brown.

Among the warnings found to have merit are those of FAA inspector Christopher Monteleon, who flagged safety problems at Colgan Air for several years before a Colgan plane crashed near Buffalo in February killing 50 people. He told CNN he’s faced retaliation at the FAA for pointing out issues including faulty aircraft manuals and poor cockpit procedures he observed during in-flight aircraft testing.


“My supervisor called me into his office and said, ‘Stop your investigation.’ He said that these violations never occurred,” said Monteleon.

But Monteleon continued raising safety concerns about the airline. Eventually he was demoted and put on leave of absence.

“I had my aviation inspector credentials taken from me,” Monteleon told CNN. “It has just been humiliating. It’s been awful.”

The FAA says it does not believe any of Monteleon’s reassignments were retaliatory, and cannot comment further because this is a personnel issue covered by privacy laws.

While the Office of Special Counsel has found merit in Monteleon’s charges of safety violations, the Special Counsel continues to investigate his claim that he was the victim of retaliation for pressing his safety concerns.

Though passenger safety is at stake, the Office of Special Counsel found the FAA has repeatedly deferred to the airlines it regulates.

“That’s shocking, and it’s really unconscionable for a government agency that’s supposed to be about safety, not about witch hunts for those who find safety lacking,” said Mary Schiavo, inspector general of the Department of Transportation from 1990-1996, who is now an attorney representing families of accident victims.

What’s going on at FAA? Critics say it’s the culture.

In 2003, former FAA administrator Marion Blakey established a “Customer Service Initiative” that defined airlines as customers, rather than the flying public. The current Transportation Department inspector general Calvin Scovel, found, “FAA’s definition of its customer has had a pervasively negative, although unintended, impact on its oversight program.”

While there’s no evidence of illegal dealings, the FAA has an active revolving door. Agency managers regularly go on to work in the aviation industry while industry executives take top spots at FAA.

-Former FAA administrator Marion Blakey is now president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.

-Former FAA chief operating officer Russell Chew moved on to become president of Jet Blue Airways, where he just stepped down and took on the role of Senior Adviser for the company.

-FAA’s chief operating officer of air traffic, Hank Krakowski, came from United Airlines where he held a number of senior management positions, including vice president of flight operations.

-Linda Daschle, wife of the former Senate Democratic leader, was the FAA’s acting administrator, and then became a lobbyist representing the airline industry.

“There’s a very cozy relationship between the lobbyists for the industry and the Department of Transportation and the FAA,” said Schiavo.

As in all federal agencies, senior executives leaving the FAA are subject to a one-year “cooling off” period that forbids them from representing a client before the FAA.

The new transportation secretary Ray LaHood and FAA administrator Randy BabbitT, who took office June 1, say they will make sure whistle-blowers are heard.

“We will pay attention to any kind of complaint or accusation or any concern expressed by an employee of FAA. It’s a new day at the FAA and at DOT,” LaHood told CNN.

FAA last year established a Safety Issues Reporting System for employees to raise safety concerns. FAA also tracks employee hotline complaints in its General Counsel Office.

But, the agency has resisted calls to establish an independent office to investigate whistle-blower safety claims. The pending House bill to reauthorize FAA would require the agency to establish such an office. The Senate still has to write its version of the bill.

The Office of Special Counsel has referred all 27 cases to the transportation secretary who is investigating and must tell the Special Counsel what steps will be taken to fix the safety problems.


http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/02/faa-whistleblower-safety-warnings-found-to-have-merit/