Sep 29, 2010
Whistleblower Office Vindicates FAA Whistleblower, But Questions Remain On Hundreds Of Improperly Closed Cases
By Nick Schwellenbach, POGO
Excerpt:
“The federal Office of Special Counsel (OSC) yesterday announced that it substantiated the findings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) whistleblower Robert Spahr. Spahr, who is an aviation safety inspector, reported to the OSC that the FAA’s flight standards district office in Pittsburgh and the FAA Eastern Division Regional Office violated regulations by failing to take action against three entities regulated by the FAA.
CNN’s Allen Chenoff reports that “Erie Aviation, a repair station operator that services commercial airlines; C.J. Systems, which pilots helicopters for hospitals around the country; and Air Charter Service, an operator of private charter flights,” were the three entities FAA failed to take action against. Enforcement actions should have been taken in response to mechanical deficiencies and false entries in aircraft logs, according to the OSC.
But questions still remain about OSC’s previous work with whistleblowers, including those at the FAA and Federal Air Marshal Service (the subject of a 2008 POGO report). Under Scott Bloch, the former Special Counsel who pled guilty to lying to Congress, literally hundreds of whistleblowers’ cases were closed without investigation.”
Link to entire article: http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2010/09/whistleblower-office-vindicates-faa-whistleblower-but-questions-remain-on-hundreds-of-improperly-clo.html