Wed, Oct 15, 2003
FAA Making Changes: Rep. Blunt
Southwest Missouri Congressman and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt
(R-7-MO) described new procedures undertaken by the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) to address the serious issues raised
in the case of pilot Joe Brinell, former College of the Ozarks
Director of Aviation. Blunt also announced disciplinary actions
taken against two senior FAA employees for what the Department of
Transportation’s Inspector General (IG) described in a
January report as an "abuse of their
regulatory authority."
A plane, piloted by Brinell and
owned by the College of the Ozarks, crashed in December 1999,
taking the lives of Brinell and five other College officials and
family members. Blunt requested Department of Transportation (DoT)
and FAA investigations into events surrounding the crash.
Past investigations sought by Blunt into
the FAA’s treatment of Brinell have turned up documented
bias. Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead (IG)
reported "troubling irregularities" in the FAA’s own internal
investigation and conducted two subsequent investigations into
pilot harassment charges centered in the Kansas City Flight
Standards District Office (FSDO).
"Joe Brinell’s death was a tragic situation made more
painful by the difficulty we’ve had in getting answers,"
Blunt said. "Under new leadership, the FAA is taking action to
bring greater consistency to the way they interpret and apply their
own regulations and inspections procedures."
The inquiry found that allegations raised by inspectors from the
FAA’s Kansas City Flights Standards District Office (FSDO)
against Brinell lacked credibility and were not warranted. The IG found an
earlier investigation in the Brinell case by the FAA had been
compromised by a "lack of objectivity and an underlying bias in
favor of FSDO personnel" in Kansas City. In the third probe, the IG
found three regulatory actions against Brinell were "unwarranted
and lacked credibility."
The IG recommended "disciplinary and
other administrative action against the FSDO Supervisor and
operations inspector" in the case. The FAA has assured Blunt that
punitive actions have been taken against employees connected to the
Brinell case. Internal FAA privacy safeguards prohibit the
announcement of the specific punishments.
"The investigations took too long. The FAA did not seem to have
consistent standards for investigations, and they were unable to
get the answers Mrs. Brinell deserved in a timely fashion," Blunt
continued. "The FAA is implementing new measures to ensure the
professionalism of inspectors and provide the public with clear
channels of redress if they disagree with an inspector."
Among FAA’s new procedures:
- New training for FAA personnel: required classes to reinforce a
strict code of professionalism among FAA inspectors
- Customer Service Initiative: the new initiative will establish
clearly what the public can expect from the FAA and the rights of
pilots and other customers who disagree with the agency’s
decisions. Materials detailing these rights will be distributed
widely in the aviation community
- Improved standardization and compliance for investigations:
better processes, documentation and record retention. A third party
review mechanism will be established
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