Another Flyer Pays The Price For Standing Up To The FAA

I may have to keep this short and not-so-sweet... because at the moment, I do not trust my ability to string together more than a few sentences without a few choice invectives... the kind that will get me some nasty emails in return. Suffice it to say, its been a tough day... when it should have been something quite different. The last few days have been truly wild and some inspired conversations, brainstorming sessions and meetings have allowed me to put together a plan that has me more excited about them than anything I've done since I conceived of Aero-News over a dozen years ago. No kidding... I've got a radical series of ideas... radical enough to succeed and targeted at things that can truly make a difference to the part of the world that I care so much about... the aviation community.

Pretty darned excited, I'd set aside most of today to start writing about it all and detail the first of a series of daring, even risky, initiatives that I feel REALLY pumped up about... and had barely sat down and started checking messages... until one arrived from former FAA Inspector and aviation whistleblower Ed Jeszka, whose predicament we have reported upon a number of times.

"Jim, Ray Ledbetter, died this morning."

Damn.

Who was he? Why should we care? Because he was one of us... and because part of our government let him down.

Ray was the latest victim in a distressing pattern of FAA payback that occurs, all too often, when someone speaks truth to their power. Ledbetter and Jeszka were involved in the fallout following their pseudo-involvement in the details surrounding the FAA's attempt to target Darby Aviation.

According to statements provided by those associated with Darby (and statements which we believe to have significant credibility), the Teterboro FSDO sought to suspend indefinitely Darby Aviation’s Part 135 Certificate, claiming that their contract with Platinum Jet Management -- a contract that was recommended and approved by the Birmingham FSDO  -- resulted in Darby Aviation not having operational control over Platinum. The NTSB Administrative Law Judge found Darby innocent of all charges and ruled that Platinum violated the approved contract by conducting the flight without authority, as it was required to do. A panel of the NTSB who did not hear the testimony reversed the ALJ opinion and found that the Birmingham FSDO and Darby Aviation were equally culpable in not preventing Platinum from committing fraud and conducting the unapproved, unsanctioned, and forbidden flights. The FAA has publicly admitted to its errors in the Darby case.

The NTSB panel also ruled that the FAA must act in good faith with Darby Aviation and that any suspension had to be lifted once Darby Aviation and the Birmingham FSDO restructured any approved arrangement that the NTSB could consider as insufficient operational control. Darby Aviation was subjected to an NTSB inspection, an OSIP inspection and a NASIP inspection, all of which Darby passed 'without issue.' Darby Aviation was given full approval to continue operations in a short period of time. The Birmingham FSDO, however, was reportedly reprimanded by superiors for failing to sufficiently perform its duties. This apparently embarrassed the Birmingham FSDO and it has 'been on a mission to put Darby Aviation out of business ever since.'

According to Darby's counsel, shortly thereafter, the individuals at the Birmingham FSDO who supported Darby Aviation’s innocence either “retired” or were faced with frivolous certificate actions as punishment. For instance, Ed Jeszka, Darby’s Principal Operations Inspector in the Birmingham FSDO when Platinum was at issue and Ray Ledbetter, a veteran and lifelong aviator who was not involved in Platinum, but was merely caught in the cross fire, were served with emergency revocations of their pilot certificates for reporting a check ride occurred on March 28th that the Birmingham FSDO claimed occurred on February 11th of that year. The FAA admitted the check ride occurred and was satisfactorily completed, but claimed the alleged use of a later date was material and falsely reported with the intent to deceive, although the FAA never articulated any reasonable motive to use a later date. The check ride could not have occurred on February 11th, because on that date Ed Jeszka still had a feeding tube surgically inserted due to his fight with stomach cancer. Jeszka and Ledbetter were also able to corroborate their testimony by introducing cellular phone records that proved the pilots were at the Jasper airport on March 28th and that both phones were inactive during the time they took the check ride. The only evidence submitted by the FAA was the testimony of a local aviator, Joey Sanders, who testified that he could not remember whether or not he saw Jeszka and Ledbetter at the airport on March 28th, a date approximately fourteen months before he testified. Later, another local witness came forward and swore under oath that he heard Ledbetter on the radio on March 28th, but the NTSB refused to allow the individual to testify.

Despite all that, Ledbetter and Jeszka lost their tickets and experienced what happens to most whistleblowers who run afoul of certain segments of the FAA... they were prosecuted with a vengeance and with that, the part of their aviation life that the FAA could steal -- their flying future was lost to them. Both men fought the FAA, with great expense and against a legal juggernaut that is positively and legally disposed toward the Administrative bureaucracy that the FAA thrives in... and is devoid of many of the Constitutional protections that even the most hardened criminals can take advantage of... so long as they are not aviators. The fight has been a tough one with a number of setbacks along the way... but as Ray grew ill and was in the process of succumbing to cancer, there was an earnest hope that he would have his Pilot privileges restored before God called him home.

That didn't happen... Ray died and the Feds that took away so much of this man's life have another flyer's scalp to brag about. This is not our government's finest moment... and it is but one of many in which those who speak truth to power pay the price of their convictions and their conscience. I take this personally, as I have to come to love this nation and those who fly over it with incredible emotion... and truly feel that my best efforts, from here on out, are best expended in their defense. I know and respect so many who feel the same... and they have my unrestricted support and admiration.

USAF veteran, pilot, and patriot, Ray Ledbetter, has gone west... as have the hopes and dreams of so many whose only crime is to believe that the truth would set them free...

FMI: www.faa.gov, Barnstorming: Enacting A Pilot's Bill Of Rights