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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 US Office of Special Counsel (OSC).
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 (FAA) facility in Jacksonville, Florida, the counsel office said. 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.