The Office of Special Counsel has issued a warning to the FAA via a letter to the White House and Congress urging stronger oversight in the face of “an ongoing series of troubling safety disclosures by air traffic controllers and other FAA employees, as well as sharply critical findings by FAA’s own internal watchdog unit.”
According to OSC the Department of Transportation has been slow to act on whistleblower alerts and undertake corrective action.
The letter presents findings of statutorily mandated reports on the seven most recent FAA whistleblower disclosures made to OSC and the department’s response. The cases involve questionable air traffic controller habits, insufficient oversight of inspection and maintenance, unauthorized aircraft in airspace, and faulty wind instruments.
OSC said it received 178 whistleblower disclosures from FAA employees since fiscal 2007 – one of the highest rates per employee of any executive agency – and 89 of them were related to aviation safety. It referred 44 of the disclosers to Transportation, which ultimately substantiated all but five in whole or at least partly.
The letter says that in four of the seven cases presented the whistleblower had to make repeat disclosures with OSC because the FAA took inadequate steps to correct the concern or failed to implement any corrective action.
