Archive for June 26th, 2008
FAA and Air Safety Error Cover-Ups
FAA tries again to fix cover-up of air safety errors
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated: 04/25/2008 11:32:44 AM MDT
WASHINGTON—The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday its
second effort in three years to stop its managers in Texas from
covering up air safety violations—after a new investigation found the
misconduct continued into last year.
In the latest blow to an agency already under fire for letting airlines
ignore its safety directives, the FAA announced that the top two
managers of an air traffic control facility in Dallas-Fort Worth had
been removed from their jobs.
In addition, the Transportation Department’s inspector general found
FAA managers in Dallas-Fort Worth routinely and intentionally
misclassified instances where airplanes were allowed to fly closer
together than they were supposed to, the FAA said. Instead of calling
them operational errors or deviations from safety rules by FAA
controllers, the managers labeled them pilot errors or nonevents.
“We’re not going to stand for this,” acting FAA administrator Bobby
Sturgell told a news conference.
Hank Krakowski, a former United Airlines pilot and safety executive who
became FAA’s chief operating officer last September, acknowledged that
FAA had promised to fix the problem in 2005 but “today it’s clear to us
those commitments were not taken seriously by people in my organization
who were responsible.” He announced a new attempt to remedy the
problem.
The FAA only learned of the continuing problem because a
whistle-blower—controller supervisor Anne Whiteman, who first reported
in 2004 that agency officials were concealing safety violations—had
come forward again last year to say the FAA managers were still
underreporting safety violations by FAA controllers or now misreporting
them as pilot errors.
The new inspector general report that substantiated Whiteman’s latest
allegations was ordered last year by the U.S. Office of Special
Counsel, an independent investigating agency responsible for protecting
whistle-blowers. A brief summary of the findings was issued by the FAA.
Special Counsel Scott Bloch did not plan to release the report until he
had time to evaluate it in detail with whistle-blowers but said it
“seems to validate what our brave whistle-blower Anne Whiteman brought
forward.”
“I continue to be concerned about a national trend,” Bloch said in a
statement referring to the Dallas-Forth Worth cover-up and the recent
disclosure of lax FAA supervision of safety compliance by Southwest
Airlines and American Airlines. “These problems exist because of a
culture of complacency and cover-up in the FAA. This culture did not
develop on its own. I believe it happened with the complicity of higher
management and could not have been possible without the support of
leadership in Washington.”
Transportation’s inspector general found that between November 2005 and
July 2007, FAA managers at the Dallas-Fort Worth facility misclassified
62 air traffic events as pilot deviations or nonevents when in fact
there were 52 operational errors and 10 operational deviations by FAA
controllers, the FAA said.
Krakowski said the problem appeared to be confined to the Dallas-Fort
Worth TRACON, a facility that controls flight below 10,000 feet and
within 30 miles of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and several smaller
airports nearby. He said a nationwide sampling found only 3 percent
misclassifications elsewhere but 25 percent there.
The air traffic controllers’ union, deep into a two-year-old fight with
the FAA over manpower and safety, pounced on the agency’s announcement
to again criticize what it considers a shortage of workers. The
Dallas-Fort Worth facility has 57 fully certified controllers, down
from 99 in January 2006, said Darrell Meachum, vice president of the
National Air Traffic Controllers Association’s southwest region.
Meachum said 45 operational errors were reported in the first six
months of this fiscal year, up from 26 over the same period in 2007.
“The system is broken,” Meachum said. “These cover-ups by the FAA are
just par for the course.”
“This once great aviation safety agency has become ‘FEMA with Wings,’”
said Meacham, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency
which bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina.
The FAA says it has been able to replace controllers who resign or
retire with new hires who can work some but not all stations as they
complete on-the-job training that can take up to three years.
Controllers in training now comprise 25 percent of the national
controller workforce, up from 15 percent a few years ago. Controllers
union president Patrick Forrey said there are 22 trainees at the
Dallas-Fort Worth facility but nine of them are not yet certified to
handle any radar position.
To deal with the problem in Texas, Krakowski announced four nationwide
steps because “I’m not confident it can’t happen elsewhere.”
—The cause of safety violations will no longer be determined by
managers of air control facilities, but rather by a national quality
assurance team that will also audit facility reports. This team will
report to Krakowski’s top safety officer.
—Krakowski’s newly hired to safety officer, Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert
O. Tarter, will do a complete safety review of all procedures in FAA’s
Air Traffic Organization.
—By the end of this year, FAA will install in Dallas-Fort Worth
software that electronically detects any loss of the required distance
between airplanes and will install it nationwide by the end of 2009.
—A recently signed agreement with the controllers union, similar to one
already in place for pilots, will allow air traffic controllers to
report safety problems without fear of penalties.
———
Associated Press Writer Paul Weber in Dallas contributed to this
report.
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http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_9054397
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Add comment June 26, 2008
King County Deputy Prosecutor, Scott Peterson’s Woes
King County Deputy Prosecutor, Scott Peterson, Assault’s Pedestrian and Is Not Held Accountable by King County Law Enforcement/Prosecutor’s Office
- July 15, 2004: Prosecutor Avoids Charges In Violent Parking Dispute
- Earlier Investigation Story:
City Attorney Reopens Criminal Case Against Prosecutor
New Evidence Uncovered By KIRO Team 7 Investigators
Chris Halsne
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter
POSTED: 4:32 pm PDT July 15, 2004
UPDATED: 5:43 pm PDT July 15, 2004
SEATTLE — Following a KIRO Team 7 Investigation, the City Attorney’s office has reopened what was a closed criminal case of a reported assault committed by a King County prosecutor.
A pedestrian claims Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson hit her with a car while she saving a free street-parking space. Seattle police recommended the prosecutor be charged with assault, but he never was.
We’ve learned that the top man, Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr, personally made the decision to not file charges against Deputy Prosecutor Scott Peterson.
Thursday afternoon, Carr sat down with KIRO Team 7 Investigators to explain his controversial ruling. Then, Carr decided to reopen this criminal case based on some new discrepancies we uncovered.
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“I know that if it was me — if I had done it — I would have had charges filed against me,” said Danatte Griffin.
Griffin was standing at a parking spot last January when a county prosecutor backed his car into her legs. Witnesses say he badly wanted the open parking spot.
“I felt like he hit pretty hard, but I didn’t know how hard it impacted me. I actually don’t bruise that easily, but I had huge bruises across my thighs from it,” Griffin said.
The injuries — and independent eyewitness accounts — led police to conclude a crime likely occurred. Seattle police recommended the driver, Senior Deputy King County Prosecutor Scott Peterson, be charged with assault.
To Griffin’s frustration, the City Attorney’s office declined to prosecute.
“This guy is somebody. I’m nobody. So it doesn’t really matter what happened to me,” Griffin said.
“I don’t know Scott Peterson. I don’t know him. He got no favoritism here,” said Seattle City Attorney Thomas Carr.
Carr says his office fully investigated Griffin’s complaint and he personally made what he calls a “tough” decision to decline charges against the deputy prosecutor.
“It’s not OK to back a car into a person. It’s just not, not an appropriate thing. There are circumstances where you do something that is not OK and we can’t charge you with a crime. That’s what’s happened here,” Carr said.
But questions still linger about the handling of the case. Carr says his staff interviewed every witness on the police report. Those same witnesses tell KIRO Team 7 Investigators they were never contacted.
We also located a key eyewitness who talked with police the day of the alleged assault, but that prosecutors now say they have no record of.
“He didn’t want to run her over,” said Barbara Bailor. “But he wanted to move her back so he could get into that space. Bump, bump.”
In rapid development late Thursday City Attorney Carr decided to change his position.
After seeing our investigation and hearing Bailor’s comments, he reopened the criminal case against Scott Peterson.
The deputy prosecutor tells KIRO Team 7 Investigators he put zero pressure on the City Attorney to give his case any special consideration.
“No. First of all, it wouldn’t have done any good. They’re a different office. I don’t know anyone there. I understand that’s totally improper to do,” Peterson said.
A City Attorney spokesperson said that office plans to re-interview all eyewitnesses, suspects and alleged victims in this case.
The “no charges” decision against prosecutor Peterson could very well stand, but to avoid all appearances of impropriety, the criminal case will be fully re-examined.
Add comment June 26, 2008
Boeing & Influence: Please Question the Ethics of Everyone Involved
A reader who has expressed concerns about the uproar surrounding the award of the Air Force Tanker Contract sent this to me today. This reader is well-informed regarding problems in the Boeing Company’s business dealings and corruption within the industry-government agency system. -GFS
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Blogs should attack each and every Rep who supports this and keep the light shining on this criminal activity all the while pointing out who is in Boeing’s sphere of influence. When the competition closed Boeing said it was fair. When they didn’t win, they claimed it was unfair and had two high-ranking Air Force personnel fired because of some B.S. accusations. -anonymous
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“Boeing Co.’s legion of congressional supporters vowed Wednesday to force the Air Force’s hand should the service fail to heed the Government Accountability Office’s advice that they reopen competition for the lucrative contract to build a fleet of aerial refueling tankers.
The aircraft giant’s backers on Capitol Hill worked for months to help publicize Boeing’s objections to the Air Force’s Feb. 29 decision to give the $35 billion project to a team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, the parent company of Boeing’s European rival Airbus.
But they were buoyed by GAO’s decision Wednesday to uphold Boeing’s formal protest of the contract award after a 100-day review of the Air Force’s contractor selection process.
In a summary of its 69-page unreleased report, GAO said the Air Force made a “number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.”
GAO provides only nonbinding evaluations of federal contract protests. The Air Force has 60 days to inform GAO of its plans.
Still, armed with GAO’s findings and recommendations, Boeing and its supporters demand the Air Force to open another competition for the tanker procurement contract and pick a new winner.
“We expect them [the Air Force] to make the right decision for this country,” said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, whose home state of Washington would build the Boeing tankers. “And if they don’t, I would expect Congress to act.”
Murray, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, added that all legislative options are on the table in the event the Air Force does not take action on the tanker contract.
“We obviously just found out this decision,” she said. “We will be looking at all our options.”
House lawmakers who have sided with Boeing echoed Murray’s statements as news of the GAO’s findings reverberated across Capitol Hill.
“In light of the GAO’s analysis, the Air Force should reconsider their decision and recompete the contract,” Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., said. “If the Air Force does not do so willingly, I will work in my role on the House Armed Services Committee to take legislative action to require the Air Force to reconsider this decision.”
Boeing’s defense business is headquartered in St. Louis, just outside Akin’s district.
Northrop Grumman’s supporters emphasized that GAO’s findings were merely a reflection of problems with the Air Force’s procurement process — not with the contractor’s proposal.
“While this is a most disappointing decision, the competition is not over,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I am confident the merits of the Northrop Grumman/EADS tanker will be acknowledged.”
Northrop Grumman and EADS planned to turn out their tanker, based on the Airbus A330 commercial aircraft, from a $600 million facility the European partner planned to build in Mobile, Ala.
A groundbreaking was set for June 28, but EADS said the event was scheduled “pending the outcome of the Government Accountability Office review of the tanker contract award.”
Meanwhile, key lawmakers who waited for GAO’s review and carefully avoided taking sides in the contract dispute issued blunt statements ordering the Air Force to get back to work to acquire new refueling tankers.
“The GAO did its work, and the Air Force is going to have to go back and do its work more thoroughly,” House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said in a statement.
His counterpart in the Senate, Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., suggested that there may be a more intensive review of the Air Force’s acquisition processes that led to the Feb. 29 award.
“We now need not only a new full, fair and open competition in compliance with the GAO recommendations, but also a thorough review of — and accountability for — the process that produced such a flawed result,” Levin said.
In a statement Wednesday night, Susan Payton, assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, said service officials are reviewing the GAO decision.”
“As soon as possible, we will provide the Air Force’s way ahead,” Payton said. “We appreciate the GAO’s professionalism and thoroughness in its assessment of the protest of the KC-45A source selection.”
1 comment June 26, 2008
