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<body> FAAthe Tombstone Agency As detailed and documented in the Rodney Stich's Unfriendly Skies and other books, in FAA documents, in an FAA hearing, and in federal lawsuits, deep-seated misconduct by key people repeatedly blocked the corrective actions to correct known safety problems and safety violations, which resulted in decades of preventable and forewarned aviation disasters. These included decades of easily preventable airliner hijackings and other disasters. The catastrophic consequences on September 11, 2001, were the latest and most publicized consequences. The present cover-up of the behind-the-scene misconduct insures that the decades of deja vu consequences will continue. The following are some examples of some of the documented misconduct and culture that caused, or permitted, to occur, 40 years of fatal airliner crashes, including numerous fatal hijackings: Pattern of Refusing to Act on Deadly Safety Problems Pattern of FAA management personnel refusing to take corrective actions on major air safety and criminal violations reported by federal air safety inspectors, despite their duty to do so. FAA management practice of covering up for major safety problems and safety violations at politically powerful airlines, despite the continuing crashes due to the problems. In one instance repeatedly documented at a major airline, inspectors reported the airline was not providing the legally required training and competency checks of their pilots and flight engineers and falsifying government-required records to fraudulent indicate that this training was being provided. FAA management at local, regional, and Washington levels covered up for this practice and retaliated against inspectors who reported the federal offenses. FAA management practice of instructing FAA inspectors not to file reports on safety problems or safety violations at politically powerful airlines. Warning that Reports Make the Office Look Bad FAA management warning federal air safety inspectors not to report air safety problems or air safety violations, claiming the office (and they) would look bad when an airliner crash resulted (from the uncorrected safety problems and safety violations). Destroying Official Reports on Serious Safety Problems Destruction of official government air safety reports of major air safety problems and air safety violations that were filed by federal air safety inspectors, followed by numerous specific air disasters resulting from the same problems and made possible by the criminal destruction of government reports. FAA management had a practice of removing official reports of safety problems and safety violations from the office files, giving them back to the inspectors. or destroying them. Destroying official documents are felonies. Retaliating Against Inspectors Who Report Safety Problems FAA management harassing, threatening, and retaliating against federal air safety inspectors who attempt to report or carry out the federal government's air safety responsibilities. FAA management practice of retaliating against inspectors who continued to make reports of major safety problems and safety violations, or who took authorized actions on safety problems that they encountered. This retaliation included forced transfers, denial of promotions, unsatisfactory fitness reports, denial of desired training, and numerous petty actions. Federal aviation safety inspectors who sought to report and act on serious safety problems and violations were threatened by airline management at certain politically powerful airlines with being transferred. FAA management's protection of this practice encouraged airline personnel to continue their unsafe practice and safety violations. FAA Management Removing Inspectors From Areas of Known Safety Problems Removal of key federal air safety inspectors from their government air safety duties to eliminate their reporting and taking actions on serious air safety problems or air safety violations. Suspending Inspector for Reporting Safety Problems FAA inspector was suspended for several weeks after he reported the high-sink-rate procedure used by a powerful member of the pilots union, Bart Stephens. Stsich had also reported another pilot as having this problem, Gale Kehmeier, and recommended that he be given corrective training. The training was never given, and several months later, that same captain flew into Salt Lake City airport and crashed due to the high sink rate problem. That crash occurred before the FAA hearing had concluded and shortly after Stich submitted his closing brief warning of the consequences of the safety problems and the arrogance and corruption within the FAA. Criticizing Stich for reporting a captain who flew in and out of clouds, under a visual flight plan, with a load of passengers in the Lake Tahoe area. That same captain, at a later date, doing the same unsafe practice, crashed into a mountain peak flying a Lockheed Constellation, killing everyone on board. Alternate Supervising inspector, William Perry, criticized Stich for reporting failure of pilots to look outside the aircraft for long periods of time--while other aircraft were approaching head-on. This was at a time when midair collisions were frequent occurrences. This practice is universal, and occurred with people in government who reported problems with terrorism, and with people who reported the truth relative to the serial lying about Iraq by White House politicians and their shills in and out of government. Pressure to Ignore Safety Problems FAA management encouraging inspectors to ignore major air safety problems by providing outstanding performance ratings, financial bonuses, promotions, to those inspectors who don't report safety problems or safety violations, while simultaneously doing the reverse to those inspectors who do report the problems and attempt to take corrective actions. All of these problems still exist, as reported to Stich. One particular example was the principle inspector for Alaskan Airlines who was pressured and resigned after reporting serious maintenance problems at that air carrier. Shortly thereafter, an Alaskan Airlines jet plunged into the ocean off of southern California when the unlubricated and worn-out horizontal stabilizer jackscrew failed. Corruption Aided by Unqualified FAA Inspectors The corrupt practices were aided by the FAA inspectors who lacked airline or heavy military experience; those who wanted to live a quiet life until early retirement--especially military personnel; those who did not want confrontti9on with politically powerful airline like United Airlines, or aviation-ignorant FAA management; those who saw the path to promotions and higher pay as going along with FAA management. Further complicating these problems has been the placement of unqualified, politically popular, people in key positions within the FAA, who lack the background and ability to recognize and act on safety problems or to confront the deep-seated culture of corruption within certain FAA offices. Deadly Consequences Motivated Stich To Become an "Independent Prosecutor' The extent of the FAA misconduct throughout the Western Region caused the safety problems and violations of major safety requirements at United Airlines to continue--along with a continuation of resulting airline crashes. Unable to get members of Congress to intervene, despite their oversight responsibilities and despite the continuing death toll, FAA inspector Rodney Stich used the law in a creative manner and forced a hearing upon the FAA during which he subpoenaed FAA management and records. He conducted a hearing before a hearing officer from the FAA administrator's staff, charging that corruption within the FAA caused and enabled a series of specific airline crashes to occur. This had never before occurred in the FAA, and resulted in a 4000-page hearing transcript further proving the deep-seated widespread corruption within the FAA. The transcript of the hearings show that FAA management personnel engaged in lying, with subornation of perjury by FAA legal counsel Donald Boberick, as the FAA organization was perverted to deny the existence of what was already proven by government records. No concern was shown for those who would subsequently due from their deception, including those on three airliners that crashed during the hearing and which were caused by the exact same safety problems and safety violations that Stich had repeatedly reported. Criminal Activities During Air Safety Hearing Expansion of cover-ups by FAA management of crash-causing air safety misconduct when FAA inspectors testify and product official government reports of corruption within the FAA related to a series of fatal airline crashes. Over 4,000 pages of hearing transcript exists in FAA hearing supporting charges of corrupt and criminal activities within the FAA related to a series of fatal airline crashes. Stich warned in his FAA closing brief that a cover-up would result in continuation of the problems and continuation of the crashes and deaths. These events quickly continued after that brief was filed. Despite the overwhelming evidence of deep-seated corruption, the FAA hearing officer, William Jennings, a lawyer on the FAA Administrator's staff, misstated the evidence and praised the guilty, the very people responsible for the deadly misconduct. After the hearing and cover-up, the same people were given letters of commendation and bonuses for their cooperation (or silence). Involved in the cover-up that would have deadly consequences--for decades--was the FAA hearing officer and the lawyers in the FAA legal department. Ironically, funerals were being conducted simultaneously for victims of this misconduct as reward was seeking to cover up these deadly conditions--the latest most publicized consequences occurring on 9/11. This misconduct in the FAA is oftentimes referred to as the Tombstone Agency. But the corruption don't not permit dismissing it so lightly. Details of the hearing, and the blueprint of crashes and deaths, can be found in Unfriendly Skies: 20th and 21st Centuries. Corruption Reported at United Airlines And Resulting Crashes and Deaths The problems with arrogance and corruption in the FAA air carrier operations branch were only part of the problems that Stich faced. These problems within the FAA would not have surfaced if certain key people at United Airlines had not engaged in corrupt practices that violated blocks of major federal aviation safety requirements, which they sought to cover up by falsifying government-required records. This practice resulted in a continuation of a series of airline crashes--more than all the other airlines combined. This misconduct included, for instance: Not providing crewmembers the legally required and industry accepted training for its crewmembers. Falsifying government-required records to indicate the flight training was accomplished when the training had not been done. No providing emergency evacuation training on the yearly basis and then falsifying records to falsely indicate that the training had been done. Denying government inspectors access to air safety records that are required to be made accessible to federal inspectors. Competency levels of pilots and flight engineers conducted by FAA-approved airline personnel had an anything-goes standard, which eliminated the need for additional training and saved the airline considerable money. United Airlines personnel pressurizing FAA management to suspend or transfer government inspectors who reported the dangerous and felonious problems. UAL management threatening inspectors that the airline would cause an inspector to be transferred if he didn't start pleasing the airline. Culture of Cover-Ups Every level of the FAA, up to and including the FAA administrator, as seen in records in the possession of former government air safety agent Rodney Stich. Reports to NTSB politically appointed board members. Stich reported the FAA misconduct, and the crimes of perjury and subornation of perjury during the FAA hearing, to the political members of the NTSB (at that time it was the CAB Bureau of Aviation Safety). They admitted to Stich that they had already been told of these problems by Stich's predecessor Instead of receiving the evidence of such misconduct as their legal mandate required, they covered up, knowing that deadly consequences would occur--and did occur. This cover-up by NTSB board members enabled the conditions within the FAA to continue, which resulted in many preventable airline disasters. NTSB board members covered up for this relationship by omitting critical information from their official accident report, thereby falsifying the reports. Cover-up by the FBI and other Justice Department divisions when federal air safety inspector sought to provide them with evidence, and when Stich had to circumvent their block to reach a federal grand jury. Shown by records and by charges in federal filings. Members of Congress, who for 40 years had been provided documented evidence of hard-core corruption within the FAA, thereby aiding and abetting the continuation of the corruption, crashes and deaths. These are the same members of Congress, and the secretary of the Department of Transportation, whose crocodile tears cover up for the fact that they were repeatedly offered evidence of the corruption that resulted in a stead series of fatal airline crashes, fatal hijackings, and who helped insure the success of the September 11, 2001, terrorist hijackers. The cover-up of these matters by members of Congress following the September 11 tragedies will insure the protection of the guilty and continuation of the tragic consequences, as documented for the past 40 years in the books described at this site. Possible reasons for the congressional cover-ups include, for instance: The universal practice of accepting bribes--either overtly or covertly--subjects most of them to criminal prosecution by DOJ personnel. Concentrating on lobbyists and others who can provide bribes, sometimes called political contributions. More Information Exposing Complicity Of Members of Congress Sampling of letters sent to members of Congress over the years seeking to report criminal activities subverting vital U.S. interests. Lawsuit filed against members of Congress on the basis of their felony cover-ups and obstruction of justice. March 24, 1992. (MS Word) (Adobe PDF) Cover-Ups by FBI and DOJ Personnel Personnel in the Department of Justice, including U.S. attorneys and the FBI, were notified of the misconduct, the related airline crashes, and the federal crimes of perjury and subornation of perjury during the FAA hearings. They gave excuses for not receiving the information, even though Stich was a key federal aviation safety agent responsible for determining the existence of these federal offenses. After the FAA hearing, and after FBI and DOJ personnel covered up for the criminal acts during that hearing, Stich circumvented the block and appeared before a federal grand jury in Denver. This is where Stich discovered how the grand jury is usually a tool of the prosecutor. An example of the culture in the FBI and DOJ can be seen from the evidence of FBI agents engaging in murders with decades of Washington officials approving. Cover-Ups by Federal Judges and Supreme Court Justices Cover-ups by federal judges when Stich filed federal actions under the federal crime reporting statute and under the statute providing for obtaining a court order requiring a federal official to perform his legal duty and to perform it in a legal manner. Many federal filings show this judicial obstruction of justice. Information at various sites, including list of lawsuits. Federal judges, from 1978 to the present date, have repeatedly covered up for the criminal activities that Stich sought to report to a federal judge under the federal crime reporting statute. Federal judges eventually issued a series of unlawful and unconstitutional injunctive orders permanently barring Stich from ever filing any papers in the federal court. These orders were intended to block the reporting of criminal activities to a federal judge that were required to be reported, and also voided for Stich the various federal defenses needed to defend against the parallel legal efforts by CIA-front law firms to destroy Stich's ability to continue his exposure activities. These felony acts by federal judges are amply proven by judicial records. Further, Supreme Court Justices were implicated throughout this period in the criminal cover-ups and criminal retaliation. Cover-Ups by Media People Cover-ups by much of the media, who had been repeatedly told of these problems and offered hard evidence. This practice of cover-ups by media people continued into other areas as Stich and his group of other former government agents sought to report criminal activities in government that they had discovered during their professional government duties. Several reasons exist for the cover-ups by media people: CIA and other offices have had a secret practice of providing payments to media people for years, thereby controlling what gets reported. The herd mentality of media people. The fear of being targeted by exposing corruption in government that goes beyond the "tolerable." Laziness of media personnel. Fear of losing their government handouts if they report corruption in government. Federal judges rendered orders permanently barring Stich from federal court access to prevent him from exercising the mandatory requirements under the federal crime reporting statute to report a federal crime to a federal court (or other federal officer; Justice Department personnel and members of Congress refused to receive the information). Federal judges and Justice Department prosecutors charged Stich with criminal contempt of court when Stich attempted to report additional criminal activities, including that within the FAA and FBI, as described in his books. Federal judges and a CIA-front law firm misused the courts to corruptly strip Stich of the $10 million in assets that funded his exposure of criminal and even subversive activities. Cover-ups by lawyers and law firms who knew of the corrupt and criminal activities in the FAA. Much of the broadcast and print media who knew of these serious matters, the prior consequences, and those that would continue and result in great tragedies. Federal judges. In the early 1970s, federal actions filed by the former federal air safety inspector, seeking to report these criminal activities, were blocked by federal judges. They unlawfully refused to perform their administrative duties (not judicial duties) under the federal crime reporting statute and under the statute providing for any citizen to seek a court order to force a federal official to perform a legal duty and/or to halt their illegal conduct. These obstruction of justice judicial acts were felonies. Sampling of lawsuits filed over the years seeking to report criminal activities in government offices. (MS Word) (Adobe PDF) Lawsuits directly related to the events of 9/11. (MS Word) (Adobe PDF) Deadly Consequences of Cover-Ups In the aviation environment, airline disasters continued at a heavy rate (until about 2000, when the rate of crashes greatly decreased). Some of the crashes that continued after the FAA hearing cover-ups included the following sampling: Three crashes during and immediately after the FAA hearing. UAL crash into Lake Michigan due to lack of altitude awareness, a problem that Stich had reported in writing, and corrective actions to be taken--which were blocked when FAA management ordered Stich to cease attention to the matter. UAL crash at Salt Lake City, which the NTSB reported as (a) due to the captain's high-sink rate approach (that Stich had reported of that same captain, and a report for which FAA management suspended Stich for several weeks); (b) due to failure of the flight engineer to shut off the fuel valves and fuel booster pumps as the crippled plane slid down the runway; and (c) failure of the crew to effectively evacuate the passengers, resulting in a high death toll. An American Airlines 727 crashed shortly thereafter while approaching the Cincinnati Airport. The NTSB blamed the crash on lack of altitude awareness. What the NTSB benevolently left out of the se reports was the following: Stich had repeatedly reported the lack of altitude awareness and was promoting a procedure to correct that problem. But FAA management ordered him to halt these procedures. During the FAA hearing, FAA management--and the hearing officer--claimed that Stich never made any such reports--despite the fact the official reports were in the record. Stich had reported the dangerous high-sink-rate approach of that same captain who later crashed at Salt Lake City. The required corrective training was not ordered, and Stich was suspended for several weeks for having reported the problem at United Airlines. Stich had written numerous detailed reports describing in detail the serious problems with the UAL flight engineer training program, with numerous references to UAL captain who agreed. In response to these reports, aviation safety ignorant FAA-management accused Stich of being paranoid. The (reflecting the numerous written reports by Stich that the flight engineer training program was the worst that he had ever seen and that many flight engineers were not qualified to safely handle the aircraft systems. As it relates to the poor evacuation of passengers, Stich had three written reports describing UAL's failure to provide yearly training as specifically required by the most strongly worded safety directives ever issues, and that the airline was falsifying records to show yearly training when it was only done every three years, and then only in part. The official NTSB accident report on all three of these airline disasters identified the direct causes of the crash--which would be hard to hid--but omitted the behind-the-scene misconduct responsible for the direct causes. This practice of covering up for politically-sensitive matters continued for years, and includes airline disasters resulting from terrorist acts. None of the Guilty Suffered Any Unfavorable Consequences None of the guilty have ever been punished. Only the victims in fraud-related crashes--and the inspector who sought to halt the carnage, paid the consequences. Matter of fact, most of those directly involved were rewarded. Help fund our exposure activities by placing orders for any amazon.com products through our links. No additional charges are incurred. New Page 1 RETURN TO TOP <p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them.</p> </body>