It’s bad enough that the TSA is incompetent and doesn’t help prevent terrorism, now, through the help of whistleblowers, we are discovering that air traffic controllers have been neglecting their duties in one of the nation’s busiest corridors. Their blatant negligence has put the nation’s airways at risk. Anyone who has the temerity to speak out and complain has been met with threats and destruction of their property. When Evan Seeley decided to enforce the rules, and later become a whistleblower, he discovered just how real the threats could be.
When midnight rolled around and flight traffic thinned out, air-traffic controllers guiding planes in the busiest U.S. corridor whipped out laptops to watch movies, play games or gamble online.
Controllers on break inflated air mattresses and napped on the floor. Some left before their shifts were over. They cursed at managers, refused to train new controllers, and flouted rules requiring them to pass on weather advisories to pilots.
Those and other allegations made by Seeley were corroborated by investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to reports released this week by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an agency formed to help and protect whistle-blowers inside federal agencies.
Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner sent a letter on May 8 to the White House and Congress detailing findings in Seeley’s case and six other verified whistle-blower complaints, saying the FAA and Department of Transportation were slow to address them or hadn’t acted.
Although the seven made formal, whistleblower complaints, little was done until after Seeley went to the media.
While Lerner said she was satisfied with the outcome, she noted in her letter that the response occurred after Seeley took his concerns to the media.
On Sept. 6, the FAA replaced the facility’s top managers and brought in experienced supervisors from other locations to serve as mentors for the remaining staff.
The results of the investigation indicate an all-around lack of authority or enforcement of rules and regulations. Often, retaliatory action were taken again those that had complained.
In New York, investigators found a facility in which FAA managers were unwilling or afraid to discipline controllers’ union members, the reports said. Supervisors who tried to enforce the rules had their cars vandalized or were threatened. The result was widespread violations of rules that undermined safety, reviews by the special counsel and FAA found.
A controller cursed out another supervisor in front of Seeley his first day on the job. Within a week, copies of a photo from Seeley’s Facebook page appeared all over the facility, including in the men’s room. The manager who had informed him of the photos said it didn’t warrant a response, he said.
“She said they are just trying to get under your skin,” Seeley said. “They’re hazing you a little bit. If you make a big deal out of this, it will just get worse.”
One night, a controller using his laptop failed to notice a warning on his radar screen that he needed to switch to a backup system, Seeley said.
Seeley hadn’t made any effort to stop the use of personal electronics at that point. This was different, he said, because of the warning. So the young manager reported the controller.
Another manager urged him not to press the matter. “He said you need to think twice,” Seeley said. “I wouldn’t do this. It’s not going to go over well for you.”
Within weeks, someone ran a sharp object across Seeley’s car, scratching the paint, he said. On another occasion, one of his tires was slashed.
FAA regulations are precise in describing how controllers must issue instructions so that their staccato radio transmissions aren’t misunderstood. The regulations also require that controllers pass on weather reports and other information to pilots.
These rules often weren’t followed in New York, Seeley said. When investigators visited the facility last year, they listened in on 32 hours of activity. Almost half of the controllers they evaluated weren’t complying with FAA rules, according to the agency’s findings.
On Jan. 20, an AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) American Airlines Inc. jet and two U.S. Air Force C-17s almost collided while under the control of two New York controllers. They passed within 200 feet (61 meters) vertically and less than a mile of each other, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Poor communication between the controllers, one of the issues Seeley had raised, was one of the reasons for the incident, he said. He decided to take his story to the New York Post.
Seeley was later demoted, something which Seeley contends was retribution. Still, the threats did not stop.
“Rat fink, watch ur back,” it said, according to Seeley. An arrow pointed to the chair where he’d been sitting. Seeley complained to the special counsel.
Seeley has since transferred back to Ft. Worth, where he has been able to peacefully resume his career.
