FAA Removes Air-Traffic Manager After Whistle-Blower Complaint

(Bloomberg) -- Managers at a federal air-traffic facility in Florida regularly ignored safety rules for handling high-altitude traffic and then instituted a policy that exacerbated the risks after complaints by a whistle-blower, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Aircraft being transferred from one controller to the next were supposed to be on specified altitudes, but some controllers weren’t following the rules at the Federal Aviation Administration’s facility in Jacksonville, Florida, the counsel office said Wednesday. The office is an independent agency that reviews federal whistle-blower complaints.

The FAA’s own Office of Audit and Evaluation corroborated the allegations made by one controller at the facility, who was granted whistle-blower protection, according to documents released by the OSC. A review found at least 43 instances in which controllers didn’t coordinate properly when transferring control of planes, according to the documents.

The Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center oversees airspace across parts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, as well as areas over the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean.

An acting manager at the facility was reassigned during the review, according to the documents. The FAA said it has conducted a safety-risk of the procedure, but Special Counsel Henry Kerner said in a press release that the agency “has failed to take appropriate corrective action.”

The allegations revolve around the practice of separating northbound from southbound air traffic by assigning them different altitudes.

The FAA uses the same procedures at its Jacksonville facility as other air-traffic centers, the agency said in an emailed statement. It is reviewing the OSC conclusions “and will address each finding in detail,” the FAA said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman

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