The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which handles whistle blower complaints from federal workers, has received 32 allegations from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees this year, one fewer than the watchdog agency received between 2004-2007.
This year’s complaints include new disclosures from Bobby Boutris and Douglas Peters, the FAA safety inspectors located in Dallas, Texas, who went before two congressional hearings in April to disclose Southwest Airlines’s alleged breakdown in compliance of airworthiness directives.
The veteran FAA inspectors told lawmakers in April that their supervisors looked the other way while Southwest Airlines neglected to inspect planes as required, and continued to fly them even after discovering cracks in some of them.
The “whistleblowers” said their bosses threatened to relieve them of their duties. One was removed from his job as an office manager and another was encouraged to apply for a transfer, they said. A third said he was temporarily removed from his role overseeing Southwest as a result of complaints by the air carrier.
The FAA intends to slap Southwest with a $10.2 million fine because it flew tens of thousands of flights without performing inspections of the fuselage skin.
Nicholas A. Sabatini, the associate administrator for safety, said the Southwest case is an aberration. “The safety record simply does not support allegations that the system and the FAA are broken,” he has stated.
Before lawmakers, Sabatini offered his apology for “the completely unacceptable situation that occurred last year involving Southwest Airlines and the FAA’s oversight of their operations. This is my workforce. I am ultimately responsible for their actions. I am here today to apologize to this Committee and, more importantly, to the traveling public for FAA’s failures in this situation.”
He called one of the whistle-blowers who exposed critical safety violations at Southwest a “hero” and vowed to change FAA policies to ensure those violations are not repeated.
He said Southwest’s decision to knowingly continue to fly noncompliant aircraft in commercial operations was “inexcusable and put its passengers at risk.” Sabatini said the local FAA supervisor who violated FAA standards and policies and who essentially permitted the unsafe flights to continue has been reassigned, is no longer supervising inspectors, and is the subject of a pending personnel action.
“I cannot overstate my disappointment and, frankly, outrage and shock at the actions of Southwest Airlines and the FAA PMI. I will not attempt to condone either. Every FAA safety official must be dedicated to ensuring that we have the safest aviation system in the world. Every FAA safety official must be dedicated to finding new ways to improve a system that has an already enviable safety record. To learn that this was not the case with respect to certain individuals at the Certificate Management Office (CMO) overseeing Southwest Airlines is beyond troubling,” Sabatini testified.
“I applaud the persistence, dedication, and tenacity of FAA inspector Bobby Boutris in pursuing the identified deficiencies at Southwest Airlines, in spite of the unacceptable and inappropriate obstacles he faced due to the working environment at our CMO and the actions of his supervisor, the PMI. Frankly, it is the reaction I would hope all of my inspectors would have to a similar situation,” added the FAA’s stop safety official.
“We have taken this situation extremely seriously and have done a great deal of soul searching and analysis to determine how the problems developed, how FAA could have prevented them and, most crucial at this point, how we proceed from here.
“The investigation of the events surrounding this incident is ongoing, but it is clear FAA’s failure to prevent Southwest from operating 1,451 noncompliant operations was the result of a complete breakdown in adherence to FAA’s procedures and policies,” Sabatini has concluded.
Meantime, The Dallas Morning News reported on June 25 that Douglas T. Gawadzinski, the senior FAA safety manager largely blamed for allowing Southwest Airlines to skirt safety regulations, has retired from the U.S. aviation agency.
Also in June, an FAA spokeswoman said: The FAA commends Doug Peters and Bobby Boutris for their steadfast commitment to aviation safety. Their actions clearly demonstrate that the FAA employs dedicated, professional inspectors who put public safety first.
“We firmly believe in the Whistleblower Protection Act and have reiterated to the entire FAA workforce that this agency does not tolerate any retaliation against whistleblowers.
“We encourage all FAA employees to raise potential safety issues. Our senior executives recently traveled to FAA offices across the nation to make it clear that the FAA must have a safety culture that supports employees who make safety disclosures. We will take action against anyone who acts inappropriately toward whistleblowers.
“The FAA is investigating the new safety concerns raised by Doug Peters and Bobby Boutris and we will continue to work with Congress, the Office of Special Counsel, and the DOT Inspector General to support their investigations,” the FAA added.
Meanwhile, a former FAA safety inspector in the Seattle district office has filed a sex discrimination lawsuit in federal court, alleging that her bosses thwarted her from enforcing safety standards at Alaska Airlines and retaliated against her for whistle blowing activities.
Sabatini recently commented on the April congressional hearings at which he was severely grilled over the Southwest affair.
At the 2008 Annual U.S./Europe International Aviation Safety Conference, held June 3-5 in St. Petersburg, FL, Sabatini said “the couple days of congressional hearings will live in my memory. There are things you will remember very well, a significant emotional event, something that gets imprinted in your neural path.
“What was at risk was the future of voluntary (safety reporting) programs due to the failure of air carrier people and a handful of FAA people. In my personal opinion, they failed in their integrity to ensure that their operations were compliant (with airworthiness directives). Non-complaint aircraft continued to be operated with permission of an FAA official. That’s unacceptable by Safety 101. It’s simply not permitted.
“This incident caught a great deal of attention by the U.S. Congress despite this being the safety period ever in the history of aviation. Those facts were cavalierly dismissed (by lawmakers) who attempted to paint this industry with the brush of a few who failed us.
“I can defend (my actions) with a clear conscience because I have the courage of my convictions that what we are doing, the voluntary programs, are about the future. That is clearly important.
“The voluntary (safety management system) programs will best serve the public, allowing us to continue to deliver the best, safest air transportation system the world has ever known,” Sabatini told the aviation safety experts in the audience.
Nancy Graham, Director of ICAO’s Air Navigation Bureau came to Sabatini’s defense.
Before starting her keynote speech, the former long-term FAA official said she had to get something off her chest.
“I worked closely with Nick Sabatini and I watched the hearings. I was particularly disturbed by the acrimony initiated by the U.S. Congress. Coming from the FAA, I was particularly embarrassed by the U.S. Congress.
“I have never worked with someone as dedicated to aviation safety as Mr. Sabatini. I’d like to acknowledge that grace under fire is something not seen before in those hearings earlier this Spring,” said Graham.
Turning to Sabatini, Graham said: “Thank you for the grace you brought to the circus. Hopefully there will be smoother sailing ahead. This is an election year, if one hadn’t noticed.”