|
Dan Hanley
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan
Hanley
To: SEC Inspector General David Kotz ; Senator Charles Grassley ;
Senator Grassley ; Congressman Henry Waxman ; Senator Leahy ; Asst
Attorney General Lanny Breuer ; Attorney General Eric Holder ; DOT Inspector
General Calvin L. Scovel ; Congressman Jerry Costello ; Senator Hutchinson ; Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee ; AJC Kelly
Yamanhouchi ; jeffbailey@nytimes.com ; John Kass ; St.
Louis Post Dispatch Elisa Crouch ; Mary Schiavo ; OpEdNews ; Mother Jones
; National
Whistleblower Center ; Senator Daniel Akaka ; Senator Claire McCaskill ;
FAA
Administrator Randy Babbitt ; Rich Swayze ; Senator
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Matthews ; Dateline ; NBC Nightly News ; The Today Show ; CQ Politics ; San Diego
Union-Tribune ; Richmond Times-Dispatch ; New York Newsday ; New York Post
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Sun ; Atlanta
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; LA
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Minutes ; Senator Saxby Chambliss ;
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Prater ; Congressman Lynn Westmoreland ; Congressman Westmoreland ; Peggy.Gilligan@faa.gov ; John.Allen@faa.gov
; Lawerence.Fields@faa.gov ; Martin.J.Ingram@faa.gov ; Nick.Scarpinato@faa.gov ; Ron.Curtis@faa.gov
; Rolandos.Lazaris@faa.gov ; David.Grizzle@faa.gov ; Cynthia.Dominik@faa.gov ; DOL Inspector
General Gordon S. Heddell ; DOJ Inspector General Glenn A. Fine ; FBI Director Robert
Mueller ; US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ;
FBI Chicago Robert
Grant ; Congressman George Miller ; SEC Chairwoman Mary
Schapiro ; ABC Producer Joe Rhee ; NBC Producer Alice
McQuillan
Cc: Tristan Loraine ; David Hutton ; Kirsten Stevens ; Chris Monteleon
; Make
It Safe ; Shanna Devine ; Coleen
Rowley ; Max Cleland ; Bogdan Dzakovic ;
Anne Whiteman ; Yolanda
Gibson-Michaels ; Zena Crenshaw ; Robert Maclean ;
Barbara Hollingsworth ; Gabe Bruno ; Government
Accountability Project Tom Devine ; Janette Parker ; Kate Hanni ; POGO Danielle Brian ; Betsy
Combier ; Sibel
Edmonds ; FAA Rich Wyeroski
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:59
PM
Subject: Whistleblower Protection
Enhancement Act of 2009
Demand that the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act
be passed to include jury trials!
The Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association is an
independent grassroots airline safety and security advocacy group consisting of
airline, Federal Aviation Administration, and Transportation Security
Administration employees whose 'special interests' are the millions who travel
by commercial air. Former United Airlines Captain Dan
Hanley serves as the national public spokesperson for the
group.
In light of the
aviation safety controversies surrounding the crash of Colgan Air 3407 in
February 2009 and the current security missteps by the Transportation Security
Administration, coupled with the continued suppression of airline, FAA, and TSA
whistleblowers, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) recognizes the
challenges of this group and applauds their efforts in the continuance of their
quest to expose the truth in the interest of public air safety and security,
while defending federal whistleblowers.
“Dan Hanley’s
leadership of the Whistleblowing Airlines Employees Association personifies why
whistleblowers make a difference keeping bureaucracies and politicians honest,
and warning the public when they’re not. His commitment to public service is
cheerfully relentless and unqualified. As long as he is breathing, he is
fighting bureaucratic abuses of power that betray the public trust,” stated Tom
Devine, GAP legal director.
It is imperative
that the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association’s efforts are matched by a
law that protects whistleblowers; the flying public’s first line of defense. The
Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 must be signed into law
immediately to include jury trials for employees who attempt to expose
wrongdoing in the workplace.
***************************
More Delta bomb 911-type terrorist air crises warns whistleblowers
Passengers' survival skills preventing the
terrorist bomb from destroying Delta's plane and passengers Christmas Day was no
surprise to Whistleblowing Airline Employees
Association (WAEA) and its
affiliates that are
all warning about another 911 attack due to high-level, widespread, U.S.
infiltration of a government corruption racket.
National Security Alert
In light of this latest terrorist attack,
Captain Dan Hanley, WAEA's national
spokesperson strongly urges the public to listen to a recent WAEA
broadcast, interviews of aircrew that testified before 911
Commission who were then fired, and to share this broadcast with family and
friends.
Fired airline whistleblowers
suppressed for attempts to keep passengers safe before and since
911 are warning passengers that air safety breaches have
reached epidemic proportions....
Click
here to read the remainder of the article and post comments at the
bottom.
Whistleblowing Airline
Employees Blog Talk Radio Programs
Please join us this weekend
on Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm Eastern Time
for the following Blog Talk Radio Programs, where our whistleblower guests will
discuss the recent controversies surrounding the alleged massive security leak
by the Transportation Security Administration and the recent controversy
surrounding the Colgan Air accident report to the National Transportation Safety
Board, which blamed the horrific crash in Buffalo in February on the cockpit
crew. The programs may be accessed each day by clicking on the links below and
are archived for future listening. Time permitting, call-ins may be taken late
in the program at (914)
803-4354.
To all members of the
Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association, iIt is requested that this email
be forwarded to all within your communications chain for broad distribution, as
well as on facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.
This Saturday at 3 pm Eastern Time, host Captain Dan Hanley
will be joined on the program by fired Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers Robert
Maclean and Spencer Pickard, and former TSA Red Team Leader Bogdan Dzakovic.
The topic of discussion will be the controversies surrounding the TSA leaked
manual and the horrific demise of the careers of our guests for attempting to
report aviation security frailties within TSA in the past. Other interesting
guests may also be on the program to share their
stories.
Time permitting, call-ins
with questions or comments to the show will be taken at (914-803-4354) later in
the program.
Please Click
Here on Saturday at 3 PM Eastern Time to access
the program!
This Sunday at 3 pm Eastern Time, host Captain Dan Hanley
will be joined on the program by affiliate FAA Whistleblowers Alliance
representative and former FAA air carrier inspectors Gabe Bruno and Rich
Wyeroski for a discussion surrounding the Colgan Air disaster in Buffalo
in February 2009. Other interesting guests may also be on the program to share
their stories.
Time permitting,
call-ins with questions or comments to the show will be taken at (914-803-4354) later in
the program.
Please Click Here on Sunday at 3 PM Eastern Time
to access the program!
***********************
Note:
For additional information on Federal Air Marshal Robert Maclean, please
click
here to listen to his testimony on a previous Blog Talk
Program.
For additional information on Gabe Bruno, Bogdan Dzakovik, and Rich
Wyeroski, please click here to listen to their testimony on a previous Blog
Talk Program.
"Do the right thing! Blow
the Whistle!"
*************************
Opinion
WHISTLEBLOWING AIRLINE
EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
Patriotism and Freedom of Speech in Action
Please click here
to read the entire article by ABC Anna
Schecter.
ABC
News: TSA Stonewalls Congress About Screening Manual Security Breach
In a typical fashion that we've
grown accustomed, TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides' tap dance routine put
Ginger Rogers to shame during yesterday's appearance before a hearing of a House
Homeland Security Committee subcommittee regarding the inadvertent online leak
of the sensitive TSA screening manual. It is outrageous to our membership that
Rossides consistently refused requests made by the committee access to the
current TSA screening document for assessment as to just how 'outdated' the
online publicized document screening processes were in comparison to current
screening processes outlined in the up-to-date document. In the meantime,
unwary air travelers and employees board aircraft daily as our government
investigates the matter, which could divulge that today's passengers are truly
at risk presently. Is this appropriate?
While throwing five TSA employees
under the bus for this disclosure through job suspension, which typifies TSA
response, as was evidenced by the firing of Federal Air Marshal Robert Maclean a
few years ago, Rossides has yet to explain why TSA has not called for Terrorist Alert Level Red in an effort
to protect Federal Air Marshals, passengers and aircrew while congress is
investigating this matter. Many a U.S. Navy ship captain have been relieved of
their command in the past for errors made by subordinates for much less
egregious errors. As 'Captain of the USS TSA', Ms. Rosside's should be relieved
of her command at TSA for refusing to immediately disclose to congress critical
information that potentially puts airline travelers and employees at
high risk. President Obama must call for her immediate
resignation.
We wholeheartedly agree
with Congressman Charlie Dent's remark yesterday when he stated, " "This was not the failure of an
individual, but rather the failure of a system". Ms. Rossides should do
the proper and noble thing, as she is responsible for the entire administration
as 'skipper' of the TSA. She should resign.
Please click
here to read the entire article by ABC Anna Schecter.
********************************************
Top-level nationwide criminal racket targeting whistleblowers hits the skies
Self-identified targeted individuals’ claims of persecution and widespread, systemic Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) abuse of power are mounting with the grassroots organization, Medical Whistleblowers that includes its Transportation Whistleblower spokesperson, also spokesperson of the Whitsleblowing Airline Employees Association, Captain Dan Hanley.
Last
week, Hanley stated that the Department of Homeland Security and
Transportation Safety Authority were recently responsible for the greatest national and airline passenger security risks since 911 and he continues to highlight FBI and DOJ refusal to respond to former alleged criminal complaints involving United Airlines.
Click here to read more.
******************************
To Cut Costs, Airlines Send Repairs Abroad
October 19, 2009
First of a three-part series.
Shortly
before sunrise on Jan. 23, 2009, passengers on US Airways Flight 518,
who were flying from Omaha to Phoenix, were startled by a terrifying
shriek.
The pressure seal around the main cabin door was
failing, and that shriek was the sound of air leaking through. The
plane diverted to Denver. Everybody was safe.
But that and
other recent malfunctions affecting US Airways planes, which NPR is
reporting for the first time, raise questions about a controversial and
growing practice at most U.S. airlines: The industry is sending 1 of
every 5 planes to developing countries, from Central America to Asia,
when the planes need to be overhauled and repaired.
In the weeks before the door seal started to fail, US Airways had sent that Boeing 737 to be overhauled at Aeroman, a repair company in El Salvador. And mechanics installed a key part on the door — a "snubber" — backward.
Mechanics
at Aeroman first told NPR about the incident. David Seymour, a senior
vice president at US Airways, later confirmed the details. He says the
plane made the unscheduled landing merely as "a precautionary" measure
— but he acknowledges that the Federal Aviation Administration issued
violations against both Aeroman and US Airways for lapses in
maintenance and oversight.
"US Airways takes safety as our top
priority," Seymour says. "It's first and foremost in anything that we
do, and we never sacrifice safety in any way, shape or form."
Outsourcing Maintenance
The
globalization of airline maintenance is a remarkable reversal. Until
just a few years ago, America's airlines maintained most of their own
planes. The FAA requires airlines to overhaul every plane roughly every
two years or less, and small armies of mostly union mechanics at the
airlines did the work.
But that was before 2002 — when US
Airways filed for bankruptcy, American Airlines slashed flights, and
other airlines teetered at the brink. Since then, airlines have been
trying to survive by cutting back on any expenses they can control —
including the little bags of peanuts.
One of the biggest areas
airlines can cut costs is maintenance. Consider this: If an airline
fixes its own planes in the U.S., it spends up to $100 per hour for
every union mechanic, including overhead and other expenses, according
to industry analysts. The airline spends roughly half as much at an
independent, non-union shop in America. And it spends only a third as
much in a developing country, such as El Salvador.
Outsourcing Aircraft Maintenance
Nine
major air carriers reviewed by the FAA's inspector general sent 71
percent of their heavy airframe maintenance checks to outside repair
stations in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2003. Foreign repair stations
got 19 percent of these major maintenance jobs in 2007. The work
includes complete teardowns of aircraft.
Since
the airline crisis hit seven years ago, the statistics have
flip-flopped: The industry is now sending most of its planes to be
overhauled and fixed at private repair shops both in the U.S. and
overseas. And roughly 20 percent of planes are going to facilities in
developing countries, according to industry surveys.
The Mechanics Of Repair
Industry
analysts say there are roughly 700 FAA-approved repair companies in
other countries — including repair shops in Argentina, Costa Rica,
Ethiopia, Kenya, China and Indonesia. The Aeroman company in El
Salvador is becoming one of the more popular, drawing business from US
Airways, JetBlue, Frontier, Southwest and other U.S. airlines.
The
way the system works, the airlines fly empty planes needing an overhaul
to Aeroman's hangars at the international airport near the capital, San
Salvador. Salvadoran mechanics strip the inside of the plane down to
the bare metal. They fix cracks and rust and bad wiring. Then they put
everything back together, and the plane is flown back to the U.S.
When
people hear that U.S. airlines are getting their planes fixed in
developing countries, they often raise their eyebrows and ask, "Should
I worry?"
Industry analysts say there's no reason for concern
because Aeroman and other foreign companies are doing a great job.
"Over the last 10 years, we've seen a significant growth" in the use of
foreign repair companies, says Kevin Michaels, director of consulting
firm AeroStrategy. "At the same time, air travel has become
significantly safer. If this were compromising safety, I suspect we
would have seen it by now." The last time a U.S. airliner crashed
because of maintenance mistakes was in 2003 — and that plane had been
maintained in the U.S.
Questioning The FAA's Oversight
This
2008 report by the inspector general at the Department of
Transportation warned that FAA and industry inspectors are not
monitoring airplane maintenance work properly.
Peggy
Gilligan, the FAA's associate administrator for aviation safety, says
one reason there hasn't been a crash since then is "that there are lots
of eyes looking at work that's done on aircraft, and lots of checks and
balances to see that the work is being completed properly." When a U.S.
airline sends planes to a repair shop, whether in the U.S. or another
country, the work is supposed to be supervised by FAA-certified
mechanics, and then checked by inspectors with the repair company, the
airline and the FAA.
But the inspector general at the
Department of Transportation has investigated those checks and
balances, and has repeatedly warned over the past six years that FAA
and industry inspectors are not monitoring the work the way they
should. His reports are written in the dry bureaucratic language of
Washington, D.C., but they add up to a scathing critique of the way the
FAA monitors the foreign repair industry — or fails to. For instance,
his 2008 report declared:
"FAA still does not have comprehensive data on how much and where outsourced maintenance is performed."
Translation:
The FAA does not require airlines to report exactly where they send
their aircraft for which kinds of repairs. So, FAA inspectors are not
sure which of the roughly 700 foreign repair shops they should inspect.
"There is no standard for all FAA offices regarding initial inspector visits, which can cause safety issues to go unchecked."
Translation:
The FAA's inspectors didn't even show up at some foreign repair
stations to monitor their work for as long as three to five years.
"Problems
existed [at foreign repair stations that the inspector general
investigated], such as untrained mechanics, lack of required tools and
unsafe storage of aircraft parts."
FAA officials told
the inspector general they would correct those problems. "He has made
recommendations that FAA improve its oversight, and we take those
recommendations seriously," says Gilligan of the FAA.
But so far, FAA officials have not put those changes in place.
"These
findings are very, very disturbing," says John Goglia, a former
presidential appointee on the National Transportation Safety Board. "We
don't know what's going on in those facilities [foreign repair
companies]. If we're not monitoring them properly, how do we know it's
safe?"
Goglia says the fact that there have been so few crashes
in recent years masks a troubling trend that the public can't see as
airlines have been slashing costs.
"The margin of safety is
getting thinner," he says. "The absence of an accident doesn't mean
you're safe. We should be monitoring and doing our job before there's
an accident, not after."
Coming in Part 2: Mechanics at
Aeroman and US Airways tell NPR about troubling practices on the shop
floor — and about the case of the crossed wires.
To Listen to the October 9th Program...Please Click On Logo
Barbara Hollingsworth: FAA, Congress ignore pilots' many safety warnings
Pennsylvania-based
Business Travel Coalition is asking Congress and the Federal Aviation
Administration to investigate Amerijet International. Sixty-two pilots
and flight engineers went on strike Aug. 27 when one of the air cargo
carrier's planes lost cabin pressurization and was forced to dump
23,000 gallons of fuel into the waters off Miami.
Fatigued,
overworked employees are protesting what they say are working
conditions in one of the most congested airspaces on the planet that
"are worse than the sweatshops of the 1930s" -- and which put "schools,
neighborhoods, the environment and the flying public at significant
risk each and every day."
Good luck with that. For at least six
years, Congress and the FAA have been warned about shoddy maintenance
and pilot fatigue by former commercial airline pilots with sterling
safety records, such as former United Airlines Captain Dan Hanley, now
head of the Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association.
Many
pilots like Hanley were forced out of the cockpit after they filed
federally mandated safety complaints. Other airline employees are also
trying to get the FAA to do something about toxic cabin air they say
has left many of them chronically ill.
But if Congress and the
FAA have so far managed to ignore repeated safety warnings from veteran
pilots and flight attendants in planes that carry hundreds of
passengers, there's little hope that they will pay the slightest bit of
attention to pilots who ferry cargo to and fro.
The FAA has even
been allowed to ignore National Transportation Safety Board
recommendations that gliders be outfitted with transponders with
impunity, despite the deaths of nine people.
The agency charged with ensuring safety in the skies has become one of its major impediments.
"With
all the political rhetoric of change and improvements at the FAA and in
Congress, there has been no mention made of forced psychiatric
evaluations by airline-appointed mental health professionals, which is
the gun being held to the heads of pilots and other employees if they
speak out," Hanley said.
In fact, Dr. Michael Berry, one of the
doctors who medically grounded former Continental pilot Newton Dickson
after he complained about lack of training and pilot fatigue -- the
same issues NTSB cited as the main causes of the crash of Colgan Air
Flight 3407 in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 50 people -- is now heading
the FAA's medical certification office.
"Isn't it strange that
the Department of Transportation, the 'parent' of the FAA, will allow
me to drive hazmat-laden 18-wheeler tanker trucks solo, but its agency,
the FAA, will not allow me to fly airplanes as second in command?"
asked Dickson, who currently works for the Transportation Security
Administration and is still appealing his grounding despite losing an
administrative hearing.
Noting that he has passed every medical
test he's ever been given and that other doctors have failed to confirm
Berry's diagnosis of epilepsy, Dickson wonders: "Isn't medical evidence
required to ground a pilot and to keep him grounded?" We thought so,
too.
Another former Continental pilot told The Examiner that
Dr. Berry charged him up to $300 per visit for close to two years and
"kept playing games with me, not returning my phone calls, and
promising that if I jumped through more hoops, I'd get my [pilot's]
license back. I knew there was some racket going on, because Berry gave
me tasks he had to know were impossible to complete. He put me in a
loop knowing there was no way out."
When I called Dr. Berry at
the FAA, his assistant told me that he would not directly comment on
these and other former pilots' accusations.
In 1996, the NTSB
Board condemned the practice of yanking pilots' medical certificates to
address personnel issues, including filing safety complaints that would
force their employers to spend money correcting them. "This would
obviously be an abuse of process to be avoided assiduously," the board
wrote. But when pilots with tens of thousands of hours of flight time
still report that airlines are doing just that, the FAA continues to
ignore them.
So does Congress, which is supposed to be overseeing
the FAA on behalf of the flying public. The representatives of the
people apparently have better things to do than making sure their
constituents don't get killed.
Barbara F. Hollingworth is The Examiner's local opinion editor.
***********************************
Colgan pilots say many felt pressure to work while
ill
by Jerry Zremski
NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
WASHINGTON -- Colleagues of Rebecca L. Shaw, the co-pilot of the
Continental Connection flight that crashed into a home in Clarence on Feb. 12,
aren't surprised that she went to work that night even though she had a cold
after a red-eye flight the previous night.
In fact, pilots at Colgan Air, which ran Continental Connection Flight 3407,
said they have flown sick or tired themselves … because it's less painful than
calling in sick or tired.
"I have done it myself because I was afraid of the hassles I'd get" for
missing work, said a current Colgan pilot.
Similarly, pilots at Pinnacle Airlines -- Colgan's parent -- have a hard time
balancing the airline's "unforgiving" attendance policy with their duty to be
fit for flight, said Scott Erickson, head of Pinnacle's pilots union.
"Sometimes, doing the right thing and missing work means being branded a poor
employee," Erickson said.
In interviews over the past month, those two pilots and six other pilots and
former pilots at Colgan and Pinnacle offered a harshly different portrait of the
airlines than did Philip H. Trenary, the Pinnacle president.
Pinnacle has a "nonpunitive" safety program, Trenary told the Senate Commerce
Committee last month.
"If a pilot is fatigued for any reason, all they have to do is say so, and
they're excused from duty," he told senators.
In the wake of Trenary's comments, pilots at the airlines said calling in
sick or exhausted has become easier since the February crash, which claimed 50
lives.
But they also said that for years before, management made sick calls and
fatigue calls difficult, and potentially career-ending, experiences.
"I'm sitting here with a letter from the chief pilot saying that if I have
seven occurrences of sick time, I could be fired. I don't know how that's not
punitive," said a Colgan pilot who, like seven of the eight pilots interviewed,
asked that his name not be printed, saying he could be fired if identified.
Another Colgan pilot recalled the time when he fell ill and ended up
undergoing surgery. Afterwards, while still in the hospital, his cell phone
rang.
"The chief pilot called and started giving me a hard time," the pilot said.
"And I was just coming out of general anesthesia."
Whether you're sick or tired, Colgan managers "will harass you until you give
up and fly," said another Colgan pilot.
However, Joe F. Williams, the spokesman for Pinnacle and Colgan,
disagrees.
"Our policies are in line with other carriers, both mainline and regional,"
Williams said.
"Should we discover an instance in which a manager "harassed' a pilot calling
in fatigued, the manager would be counseled about the procedure for handling a
fatigue call," Williams added.
Contrary to what the company said, the pilots interviewed for this story said
their experiences prove how tough it is to miss work at Colgan and Pinnacle. And
they said that's important because a federal probe into the crash of Flight 3407
has raised sickness and fatigue among pilots as key issues.
Shaw, the first officer, took a connecting red-eye flight from Seattle to
Newark and then slept in the crew lounge at Newark International Airport before
boarding Flight 3407. The transcript of the flight's cockpit voice recorder
shows Shaw sniffling and complaining of a cold.
"Oh, I'm ready to be in the hotel room," she said before takeoff.
While it's unclear where the pilot, Capt. Marvin Renslow, slept the night
before the flight, the federal crash probe showed he logged onto the company
computer system at 3:10 a.m. that morning and was seen in the crew lounge at the
Newark airport about four hours later.
Flight 3407 left Newark for Buffalo at 9:18 p.m. that night. Less than an
hour later, the crew allowed the plane to slow to the point where a stall
warning activated.
Federal investigators said Renslow reacted improperly to the warning, pulling
back on the yoke when he should have pushed it forward to gain speed.
"Even the worst pilot knows not to do that," said Les Westbrooks, an
associate professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University. "For him to have had that reaction, he had to be really
fatigued."
Yet the attendance policies at the airlines are so tough that pilots are
reluctant to call in fatigued, according to the pilots interviewed by The
Buffalo News … two from parent Pinnacle, four from Colgan and two who have left
Colgan for other airlines.
"We have an attendance policy that is threatening in nature and disciplinary
in action," a Pinnacle pilot said. "We have pilots and flight attendants that
fly sick all the time to avoid this disciplinary action."
In addition to the pilot who got that phone call while in the hospital,
another pilot complained of getting a call from the chief pilot while at a
doctor's office.
In both cases, the airline demanded a doctor's note, which is standard
operating procedure at Pinnacle and Colgan, according to several pilots.
"They treat you like a child," still another former Colgan pilot said.
Williams, of Pinnacle, disagreed, saying: "No notes are requested for sick
calls that fall within the policy ... We use doctors notes for safety or absence
abuse issues only."
However, Pinnacle's attendance policy says: "A physician's certification of
health (Doctor's Note) whether being provided freely by the pilot or
specifically requested by management normally acts as verification of his
absence due to illness or injury."
What's more, several Colgan pilots recounted instances when they tried to
call in sick only to get a call from management, urging that they
reconsider.
The chief pilot sometimes counsels pilots to "work something out" with
management over the sick call, said the pilot contacted at the doctor's
office.
"That means you don't get paid for taking time off," that pilot said.
Pilots at Colgan and Pinnacle have a strong incentive for doing that. Both
airlines have policies that discipline employees with multiple occurrences of
sick time each year (an "occurrence" can be one day long or several consecutive
days long).
Those policies call for the dismissal of those who get sick seven times in a
year.
Under those rules, about a third of Pinnacle's pilots were reprimanded for
having at least four occurrences of sick time in 2008, said Erickson, the union
official.
Similar rules cover flight attendants. The pilot who got that call after
surgery recalled an instance where Colgan tried to get a flight attendant to
work even though she had a high fever.
Fearing that the rest of the crew and the passengers could get sick, the
pilot of that flight refused to fly with her, at which point the airline called
in a substitute for the attendant.
That pilot refused to fly with her because of Federal Aviation Administration
regulations that require pilots to remove themselves from duty if flying "would
not be consistent with the standard of safe operation."
Several pilots noted that the Pinnacle/Colgan policy of threatening employees
with dismissal for seven sick calls conflicts with that rule.
"It's a company policy that could get you fired for following the law put
forth by the FAA," a Colgan pilot said.
Williams disagreed, calling that charge completely false.
"As I have stated, Colgan's policy is nonpunitive and no jeopardy. Same with
Pinnacle," Williams said.
Nevertheless, pilots at the sister airlines can remember a time when the
fatigue policy was clearly punitive.
"It was a battle calling in fatigued," a former Colgan pilot said. "They
would do anything they could to talk you out of it. They just want to get the
plane moving."
Current Colgan pilots said, though, that the fatigue policy has improved
recently.
"It's night and day since the crash," said another Colgan pilot.
In wake of the Flight 3407 crash, the airline shifted responsibility for
handling fatigue calls from the chief pilot to the Safety Department, which,
pilots said, takes a much more reasonable approach to the issue.
And Williams said that change was about to be implemented at Pinnacle.
Pilots said Pinnacle's fatigue policy has improved in another way as well.
Pilots now must contact base management within 72 hours of a fatigue call, and
no longer "get called on the carpet in front of the boss," as they did before
the policy change, Erickson said.
Despite the changes, Erickson still wonders if Pinnacle takes too harsh an
approach on fatigue … given that only recently a Pinnacle pilot was, for the
first time ever, reprimanded for calling in fatigued.
"It's kind of bizarre to be reprimanded for doing your duty under FAA
regulations," said Erickson, who noted that the agency also requires pilots to
pull themselves off duty when they are too tired to fly. The sick-time and
fatigue policies at Colgan and Pinnacle are not unusual for the regional
airlines that operate the less-traveled routes for major carriers, said Capt.
Paul Rice, first vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association.
But they are bad policies because they leave sick and tired pilots thinking
about the discipline they may face rather than about whether they are fit to
fly, Rice said.
"Pilots should never be forced to make this decision on anything but safety,"
he said.
Major airlines have much different policies on sick time and fatigue.
JetBlue gives beginning pilots 108 hours of paid time off every year and
charges them five hours for each vacation day or the length of their shift for a
sick day, the company said. Other airlines give pilots upwards of a month's sick
time every year.
That's by no means not the only difference between regional airlines and the
larger carriers.
Whereas pilots at the major airlines can earn in the six-figure range, Colgan
said pilots on its largest plane are paid $67,000, although pilots said many of
their colleagues make about $50,000. First officers, such as Shaw, can make less
than $20,000.
Another Colgan pilot said the tough policies on sick leave and fatigue were
the company's way of dealing with low-paid, demoralized employees who might
abuse more generous policies.
"I know where the company's coming from … but they're not paying qualified
people the right amount of money to work for them," the pilot said. "You expect
a certain level of professionalism, but at $25,000 a year you're going to get a
certain level of professionalism in return."
Meanwhile, those policies at Colgan and Pinnacle earned some criticism from
Jerry M. Newman, a professor of business at the University at Buffalo who
specializes in studying compensation and employee benefits.
"These look like policies from companies that have a difficult relationship
with their employees," Newman said.
Both Newman and Westbrooks, of Embry-Riddle, said the Colgan and Pinnacle
sick policies are tougher than those at most companies.
And both lashed out at the economic trends in the airline industry that
prompted big carriers like Continental to outsource many of their flights to
lower-cost operations like Colgan.
"It's a clever thing with potentially disastrous implications," Newman
said.
For proof, just look at Flight 3407, Westbrooks said.
"This whole accident was, unfortunately, about economics," he added.
e-mail:
jzremski@buffnews.com
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To Listen to the September 4th program...please click on logo.
To listen to the August 28th program...please click on logo.
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Released by the Canadian Press on August 23, 2009
By Terri Theodore
VANCOUVER,
B.C. — Proponents predict it will make air travel in Canada safer than
ever. Critics call it a flight plan for disaster.
A
controversial new regulatory system that forces the aviation industry
to enforce its own safety standards has some accusing Ottawa of
abdicating responsibility for ensuring the safety of Canadian
passengers, citing tragic experiences in Canada's rail industry as
cautionary tales.
For nearly a decade, rail safety in Canada has
been governed by a so-called safety management system. Companies are
responsible for devising their own safety plans according to regulatory
standards and must ensure that their day-day operations conform.
During
that period, however, several accidents took place that were blamed on
faulty rail-safety systems, including a runaway train in 2006 that
killed two railway workers.
"It's like the fox running the
henhouse," said Virgil Moshansky, a former judge whose investigation
into the deadly Air Ontario crash in 1989 in the northwestern Ontario
town of Dryden, led to major changes in Canada's aviation industry.
"It seems that Transport Canada, or the government, or both, need a major disaster to happen before they take action."
Moshansky
headed up the inquiry that probed the crash that killed 24 people when
ice buildup on the wings sent the plane careening into the ground,
where it burst into flames and broke apart.
As part of the
changes, a federal program to audit airline safety procedures has been
cancelled and Transport Canada intends to stop regulating the frequency
of inspections.
Transport Canada inspectors won't enforce safety
regulations for companies with their own safety management systems.
They will simply inspect safety reports written by the companies
themselves.
Federal legislation that would have enshrined the
changes into law - opposition parties aggressively opposed the bill -
died when last year's federal election was called. The changes will
instead be made through regulations, which do not require the approval
of Parliament.
That will leave it up to aviation companies to
devise their own safety policies, identify risks and make employees
aware of the need for safety.
Proponents of the safety-management doctrine say that's the point.
By
requiring airlines to create and police their own safety systems, with
regulatory authorities as the backup, safety measures are enhanced,
rather than diminished, they argue.
The International Civil
Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency considered the
international authority on civil aviation, notes that when such a
system is working properly, it adds an extra layer of safety.
The
ICAO has developed safety-system guidelines for nearly 200 member
countries, including Canada, which is considered one of the leaders in
its implementation.
Under the plan, operators, manufacturers,
regulatory bodies and investigative agencies work together in a
proactive, preventative system at all levels of an operation.
In
Canada, large airline operators, their maintenance companies, principal
airports and air traffic controllers already operate that way, said
Chris Day, press secretary for Transportation Minister John Baird.
Small
operators, their maintenance providers, flight training operations,
companies that certify aircraft and aircraft makers will soon follow,
with Transport Canada expecting the system to be fully implemented by
2015.
"This is about promoting safety, limiting risk, preventing incidents before they happen," said Day.
The regulations are being changed to match what's happening already, he added.
But even as the airline industry grows, there are fewer and fewer government inspectors.
"They
(Transport Canada) have delegated the oversight function and
enforcement function to the airlines themselves," Moshansky said.
Critics
agree that airlines and railways must take principal responsibility for
making sure passengers and crew are safe. But they also need the
support of Transport Canada inspections and audits, they say.
The
unions that represent Canada's inspectors say the system is being used
as an excuse to reduce their numbers and to remain at arm's length from
liability after accidents.
Kerry Williams, national
vice-president with the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees,
said there are 130 inspector positions vacant in Canada.
"This is one way to eliminate those vacancies in the stroke of a pen."
The
number of inspectors over the last few years has dropped by 15 per cent
while the aviation industry has grown by 50 per cent, reducing the role
of inspectors to little more than "box tickers," he added.
Greg
Holbrook, the chairman of the Canadian Federal Pilots Association,
which represents pilot inspectors, said the government saw the system
as a money-saver from the start.
"Really, what (this) is all about is about getting Transport (Canada) off the hook," Holbrook said.
"They
haven't been able to do their job for a number of years because they
don't have enough people and they don't have enough money to do it."
A Transport Canada plan backs up that claim.
Written
eight years ago, the document says relying on companies for safety
systems cuts costs and jobs and results in less "regulatory burden,
Crown liability, oversight requirements."
Said Moshansky: "It
seems that safety always gives way to the bottom line with Transport
Canada. There are countless examples of this."
Baird himself
wasn't available for an interview, but Transport Canada spokesman Brad
McNulty said the agency is confident the program will only improve
safety.
"Transport Canada is confident (safety management
systems) will help save lives by preventing accidents," he said in an
email to The Canadian Press.
That confidence isn't borne out by the experience of the rail industry.
The
Transportation Safety Board, which investigates rail, air and marine
incidents, has cited several accidents that were a direct result of a
breakdown in that industry's self-managed safety system.
Tom
Dodd and Don Falkner clung to a runaway CN train equipped with
ineffective brakes as it plunged over a British Columbia cliff three
years ago, taking them to their deaths.
The safety board
concluded earlier this year that the choice of an engine with brakes
not meant for mountainous terrain was made for "financial reasons,
rather than safety reasons," contrary to the railway's own policy.
In
August 2005, a defective rail set off an environmental disaster in
Wabamun Lake west of Edmonton when 700,000 litres of thick crude oil
spilled into the lake. The board criticized CN's rail maintenance and
its dangerous goods emergency response plan in a report on the
derailment.
Just days later, a train derailed along the
Cheakamus River near Squamish, B.C., spilling caustic soda into the
river, killing hundreds of thousands of fish. Again, the board blamed
violations of the safety management system.
CN's policies were
also cited as a factor in a fiery wreck in August 2007 in Prince
George, B.C., and in a January 2007 derailment in Montmagny, Que., when
four cars containing sulphuric acid derailed, but didn't spill.
A
review of the industry's safety management policy released in 2008
concluded that the implementation of the policy had been inconsistent
across the country and said Transport Canada hadn't dedicated enough
resources to oversee it.
Federal auditor general Sheila Fraser
also warned the government in a 2008 report that Transport Canada's
transition to aviation safety management systems "had several
weaknesses."
Fraser said the department didn't forecast expected
costs for the transition, document potential risks or suggest
mitigating actions and had no plan in place to evaluate the impact. She
also warned there was no strategy in place to hire specialized people
with skills gained on the job.
As a result of the
recommendations in the rail safety review, McNulty said Transport
Canada would be hiring 20 more inspectors for rail over the next three
years.
While there are only a few dozen rail companies operating
in Canada, there are more than 2,300 air operators certified to fly
here.
Emilie Therien, past president of the Canada Safety
Council, said the safety change in the airline industry will make
Transport Canada a "toothless tiger" when it comes to enforcing safety.
"The
safety level established by the carrier - whether it's rail or air -
may not be the same one that was established by Transport Canada
before," he said in an interview.
Hugh Danford, a former civil
aviation inspector for the department, agreed, saying aviation travel
is about profit and there's always a balance between money and safety.
"And
that's why the (safety management system) won't work because they're
putting that balance in the hands of the people who profit."
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Original Article from the Canadian Press
Dr. Janet
Parker's Medical Whistleblower Program
This Wednesday, August 19th,
at 11 a.m. Central Daylight, Dr. Janet Parker will host her program covering the
hot global news topic 'Aerotoxic Syndrome' which was overviewed on last
Wednesday's program. Please review these global news reports of the past
several month. Her guests will include:
-
Kate Hanni – Chairperson, FlyersRights.org
-
Captain Tristan Loraine – Co-chair, Global
Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE)
-
Judith Murawski – Co-chair,
GCAQE
-
Captain John Hoyte – President,
Aerotoxic.org
-
Sue Dale – President,
ToxicFreeAirlines.com
-
Numerous airline aircrew and passenger
victims of Aerotoxic Syndrome
This important
medical topic is of concern to the 'special interests' of the Whistleblowing
Airline Employees Association...the millions who travel by commercial air and
the dedicated safety professionals who serve them daily.
The collective
grassroots efforts of the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive, Aerotoxic.org,
ToxicCabinAir.com, Medical Whistleblowers, AirPassengerAdvocacy.travel,
PassengerRights.org, the FAA Whistleblowers Alliance, Safeskies.ca, and the Whistleblowing
Airline Employees Association operating in concert, must speak out with one loud
voice of insistence that Congress immediately address this concern for the
safety and health of those who travel by commercial
air.
If you or a family
member feel that they have experienced the symptoms of Aerotoxic Syndrome,
please take the time to complete this simple
on-line survey.
Please tune
in here at 11 a.m. Central on
Wednesday!
Call in to the show with
your questions at (347) 857-4599
The Global Cabin Air Quality Executive (GCAQE) is the leading
organization representing air crew (pilots, cabin crew and engineers), that
deals specifically with contaminated air issues and cabin air quality. They
represent over 20 organizations, almost half a million aviation workers around
the world.
Captain
Tristan Loraine – is a former Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 Captain with over 10,000
hours flying experience. Author of the novel ‘Toxic Airlines‘
http://www.toxicairlines.com and producer / director of the feature length documentary film
‘Welcome Aboard Toxic Airlines‘ http://welcomeaboardtoxicairlines.com that triggered two calls for a public inquiry in the United
Kingdom. Member of numerous international committees dealing with contaminated
air issues. Voting member of SPC-161 ASHRAE Committee.
For additional
information about the guests on the program and their respective organizations,
please click on the links below.
*********************************
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