US House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee
Oversight & Investigations
Attn: Mr. Clay Foushee, Sr. Investigator
586 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Foushee:

I received your name and contact information from Ms. Mara Comaianni of Portland, Oregon. She has provided you with documentation of egregious, retaliatory, and possibly illegal behavior by senior FAA officials in the Northwest Mountain Region, Flight Standards Division. I am writing this letter in the hopes that my documentation will add additional credibility to what Ms. Comaianni is claiming, and that you will add me to your long list of safety inspectors who have been victimized. I, too, have been harassed and retaliated against by Mr. Bradley Pearson and his subordinates for blowing the whistle on Alaska Airlines safety problems in the mid to late 1990s, and right up to the day of the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261 into the Pacific. The FAA harassed me out of the agency after 12 years of loyal service, and I’ve been trying to get my job back ever since.

I have written about this matter before, prompted by the 2008 hearings regarding regulatory oversight (or lack of) of Southwest Airlines. Attached is a letter that I sent one year ago to Honorable Oberstar, with copies to Honorable DeFazio, Murray, Cantwell, McDermott (my WA State representatives), and the Office of Special Counsel. To this date, not one representative has responded, although I provided very specific information.

My letter makes a strong comparison between FAA cover-ups at Southwest Airlines in 2008 and the FAA cover-ups at Alaska Airlines between 1991 and 1999, which ultimately resulted in the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261 into the Pacific in 2000. It also demonstrates the lengths of retaliation and abuse the FAA will go to in order to silence Aviation Safety Inspectors. I ultimately lost my career with the FAA, my husband, my financial security and retirement, and my health.

In my letter to Honorable Oberstar, I requested that Mr. Brad Pearson, who heads the FAA Flight Standards Northwest Mountain Region, be held accountable for the deaths of 88 people. I also requested that my career be reinstated (retroactively), as was done for the inspectors who blew the whistle on the FAA and Southwest Airlines last year. I am now making those same requests to you for your consideration and action.

I have suffered long enough and paid the ultimate price for doing the right thing and living up to my oath of office, while the egregious actions of FAA Flight Standards Northwest Mountain Region managers resulted in their protection and promotions.

Thank you for your consideration. Please contact me if you have any questions.



Sincerely



Mary Rose Diefenderfer