Warning of Continuing Aviation Disasters
Written into an FAA Closing Brief If
The Expected Cover-Up Occurred

While acting as an independent prosecutor, Rodney Stich subpoenaed FAA management and other personnel to give testimony. Over 4,000 pages of hearing transcript was required to record the testimony and evidence provided. During the hearing, three major fatal airline crashes occurred due to the very same safety problems and safety violations that Stich had repeatedly reported.

After the hearing was over, and the FAA administrator's office and lawyers covered up, numerous other crashes occurred due to the same culture. The events of September 11, 2001, were simply blips in the continuing corrupt culture and consequences.

The following are excerpts from the closing brief in an unprecedented hearing within the Federal Aviation Administration during which FAA air safety inspector Rodney Stich acted as an independent prosecutor.

What existed then, continued for years, due to the cover-ups. Among the one-day's consequences were the hijackings of four airliners on September 11, 2001.  Incredibly, despite all this information, no one seems to understand this elementary fact. And that is how, in America, corruption and tragedies continue year after year.

The following are excerpts from the closing brief filed by FAA inspector Rodney Stich.

INITIAL CLOSING BRIEF
OF RODNEY F. STICH

FAA E-20G FAA

SECTION 1

General

This initial closing brief could almost be called, "The Federal Aviation Administration, A Story of Blood and Guts." It reflects upon actual conditions identified during this hearing. The price paid for this conditions has been high and gruesome. It is time that a spade is called a spade and actions taken to correct the conditions. The use of "role colored glasses" or other cover-up means are not suitable for the conditions existing herein.

This hearing has illustrated that the Federal Aviation Agency as it pertains to Flight Standards and particularly the Western Region has allowed thousands of safety violations of the regulations to exist in serious safety areas with a major air carrier. These violations of safety regulations, including noncompliance with agency safety directives, were accomplished with the obvious knowledge, condoning and cover-up by certain FAA management personnel.

It has shown that massive and continuous violations of the important emergency training regulatory requirements have occurred since approximately March 1962 in clear noncompliance with the intent and the specifics of the Agency regulations and Agency directives.

World's Worst Air Disaster: DC-8 Crash Into New York City

Such violations existed during the hearing (tr 1928) and over three years after numerous Agency directives were sent to the field stressing the requirement for such compliance to insure passenger survival in otherwise survivable accidents. That the need for such compliance was obvious from actual observance of the cremation of 16 passengers on the FAA "doorsteps" in Denver during a DC-8 tragic accident. That such noncompliance was apparently known and tolerated by various FAA management persons in charge of the program, that they obviously knew of the association between deaths of the passengers on the DC-8 aircraft and that requirement. That such person was too intimately involved in petty and vicious conduct against the reporting inspector to be concerned with the open violation of this major requirement.

The net result is that several thousand crewmembers are now in noncompliance with this regulatory requirement with an obvious safety deficiency existing that will take several years to correct.

It has been shown that there has been a continuous and massive noncompliance with an Agency regulatory requirements .... 

The noncompliance with regulatory requirements and Agency directives has existed for approximately six years with numerous Agency exhibits indicating the truth of this condition. It has been shown that serious destructive incidents and hair-raising near-incidents have occurred as a result of this condition that is uncorrected by FAA management. 

It has been shown that Washington instructions specifically directed to Chief, Flight Standards Division, have been disregarded (Exhibit 89) and that the Washington instructions and Agency regulations are deliberately ignored by certain FAA management. It has been shown that inspectors are actually ordered to participate in a dangerous condition that is in massive noncompliance with agency instructions and regulations. This condition is highly dangerous to the persons on board the aircraft and those on the ground. 

It has been shown that there has been massive and continuous noncompliance with regulatory and Agency directives ... condoned and covered up by numerous FAA management personnel. ...

It has been shown that FAA management has stubbornly refused to correct the conditions that caused or allowed the world's greatest air disaster to occur, the DC-8 crash into the city of New York. It has been shown that FAA management has stubbornly and persistently refused to correct the serious conditions identified by Washington directives that stress the need for immediate corrective actions. This safety deficiency undoubtedly played a major role in this accident. It has been shown that the conditions were actually being encouraged by condoning the air safety violations that enabled the New York City air disaster to occur. 

It has been shown that certain management personnel have been closely associated with numerous tragic air disasters of operation safety deficiencies, that such FAA personnel were responsible for the safety activities and standards of the air carrier, and that such personnel before and after the major air tragedies tolerated or ignored the conditions that were involved in the accidents. It has been shown that they have continually been promoted within the Agency despite such associations and despite their known misconduct that reflects gravely upon the ability of the Federal Aviation Agency to properly function.

Retaliation Against Federal Air Safety Inspectors

It has been shown that any inspector who identifies and attempts to take corrective actions suffers heavily from the tranquility seeking FAA management.

Refusal by FAA management to act on serious safety problems were proven during the four-month-long hearing and stated in the closing brief.  

It has been shown that FAA management has repeatedly refused to take corrective actions on unsatisfactory company check airmen, unsatisfactory recurrent training programs, noncompliance with emergency training program and regulatory requirements, noncompliance with proficiency check oral requirements, noncompliance with landing out of circling approaches as required by regulations, serious safety deficiencies and other safety deficiencies. 

It has been made obvious that the FAA is unable and unwilling to cope with hidden safety deficiencies as proven by the fact it will not act on obvious and major safety deficiencies. 

It has been shown that the Denver DC-8 accident that caused the loss of 18 lives was associated with a defective reverse procedure that was reported to FAA management before the accident and was ignored until its involvement with that tragedy.

It has been shown that the Agency's present management is unable and unwilling to correct the deplorable, almost criminal misconduct that is occurring within its ranks with tragic prices being paid by the destruction of the required values upon which the Agency must function. Aviation safety will deteriorate with the deterioration of values in the Agency. 

It has been shown that massive disregard of job responsibilities have existed in the Western Region with persons in responsible positions ignoring numerous safety deficiencies. An evaluation will reveal that for a given tour of duty, certain FAA management personnel have not accomplished a single major corrective action for unsafe conditions known or reported to them. It has been shown that FAA management has numerous personnel that are thoroughly incapable of understanding the requirements of safety today who are responsible for making decisions involving important safety requirements when they cannot possibly comprehend the magnitude of the problems. The serious misconduct that I have identified is deliberate and dangerous refusal of local FAA management to follow specific Washington directives and regulations. 

It has been seen that certain FAA management personnel have deliberately refused to correct safety deficiencies, clearly stressed by Washington directives, after the identical condition caused major air disasters. It has been shown that they remain in position in grade and are continually promoted and/or receive pay increases. It has been seen that the inspectors who recognize the safety deficiencies and act as Washington instructions clearly specify is discredited, denied promotions and considered troublemakers in the "tranquility seeking" FAA.

Among recent crashes Associated with Previously Reported Serious Safety Problems and Safety Violations, and Retaliation Against Reporting Federal Air Safety Inspectors

United Airlines DC-8 crash into New York City. (Due to poor piloting performance, preceded by airline no providing legally required training and competency checks and then falsifying its records; poor competency standards by certain key company check airmen, previously report by FAA inspectors with the results that the inspectors were disciplined and transferred.)

Denver. Poor crew knowledge and defective reverse procedure, resulting in 16 deaths.

Los Angeles. Boeing 727 crash into ocean after takeoff from Los Angeles. Previously reported deficiency arising from absence of backup powered flight instruments and poor knowledge of systems by pilots and flight engineers..

Salt Lake City. Boeing 720 crash with 44 deaths. Due to high sink rate of captain; poor performance by flight engineer (previously reported by inspector Stich); poor evacuation of passengers by crew (previously reported as not in compliance with the law, conducted only every three years instead of every year, and records falsified). Stich had previously reported the high sink rate of that same pilot and no corrective action taken; Stich had previously reported high sink rate of other United Airlines check pilots and instead of correcting the problem, Stich was ordered removed from the DC-8 program.

[Note, the above are a few of the comments in the initial closing brief that reflect the pattern of refusal by FAA management to act on reported unsafe or illegal, or criminal acts, and the retaliation against federal air safety inspectors when they do so. After this report was made, the crashes due to these same problems continued for years, and the most recent consequence of the FAA misconduct occurred on September 11, 2001, as the FAA refusal to act on inspector reports of the hijacking problems were ignored.]

The expected cover-up did occur, the guilty were rewarded—while funeral processions were in progress−and for the next 50 years cover-up after cover-up became necessary, and a part of the American culture.

See FAA Sky Marshal Program, and the head of the program co-signing a report on deep-seated FAA corruption responsible for a series of preventable airline disasters—the same culture that years later made possible the 9/11 hijackings.