Air Trek Air Ambulance, the FAA, and the NTSB

The FAA, If Guilty of Anything, is Guilty of Being Asleep At The Wheel

It would be hard to argue that the FAA didn't need to act decisively to discover Air Trek Air Ambulance's problems; it would also be foolhardy to think that special attention wouldn't be given to any company (no matter the size) that crashed 50% of their aircraft over a four year period; resulting in the deaths and injuries of numerous people (this also doesn't take into account the numerous other serious 'issues' Air Trek, Inc. experienced prior to suspension of their Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate in May 2008).

The FAA would never have allowed a larger company to continue operations with such an abysmal safety record. Can anyone imagine a customer purchasing a ticket or chartering an aircraft from an airline or company that had crashed half of its fleet of aircraft in less than four years? This type of dismal record should have spurred an investigation by the NTSB/FAA long before it reached this sad state of affairs. It is no secret that smaller Part 135 operators are able 'skirt' regulations due to the lack of oversight from the FAA (everyone recognizes this).

Consequently, the FAA relies heavily on companies to follow the regulations and it is often very difficult to catch those that aren't (accident/incident records are often a very good litmus test of whether or not a company has problems) ... even when the FAA catches operators violating the rules, it is often extremely difficult to prove ... often management blames pilots for violations despite often coercing them to do so (threats vary from very subtle to overt and difficult to verify). Unfortunately, and the FAA can attest to this, there are just too many small operators for for them to cover adequately; consequently, when the FAA finds a company circumventing the rules, they must make an example of them.

The FAA, if guilty of anything, is guilty of being asleep at the wheel in this instance, not being overzealous as the owners of Air Trek would have people believe. There are many people that could have been spared the nightmare of being in a plane crash if something had been done sooner. It makes one wonder what the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) in Tampa was doing with regards to oversight of Air Trek? Perhaps the FAA should be looking into their actions or more appropriately, inaction.

If the personnel in the Tampa FSDO were derelict in their duties, looking the other way, or heaven forbid receiving something for their 'ignorance', the FAA has an obligation to investigate, make it known to the public, criminally prosecute FAA personnel if warranted, and set in place procedures to ensure it never happens again...companies that fail to follow the rules put everyone that flies at risk.

Finally, the owners of Air Trek Air Ambulance have repeatedly said that there were never any significant issues; their dismal safety record stands as a testament to their ultimate denial of the facts. The managment has stated time and again that the only issues were pilots acting contrary to company policy - company policy isn't worth the paper it's written on if not adhered to by the 'powers that be'.

It is interesting to note there has never been any mention or any presentation of documentation maintained by the owners of Air Trek that verifies claims of pilot or employee misdeeds; only accusations leveled at the FAA stating Ar Trek was being unfairly singled out, as well as an onslaught of articles which have appeared on the internet and in the press attempting to vilify the FAA and past employees; the only primary source of information for these articles appearing to be a PR Newswire article, written and released by Air Trek Air Ambulance's legal team. If in fact employees are to blame, where are the counseling forms, written documentation noting the time and dates of those alleged violations of company policy, FAA regulations, or FAA approved Operational Specifications?

If Air Trek had presented information to the FAA regarding pilot and employee misdeeds, surely the individuals involved and not the company would have been punished? Lastly, one could strongly argue that if Air Trek's management was incapable or unwilling to document 'issues', re-train pilots or terminate them if unwilling to comply, that the management of this company failed to maintain Operational Control of their aviation operations as required by FAA regulations and is not qualified to operate a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate as the FAA has alleged; the management/owners of Air Trek had an obligation to ensure everything was done in accordance with FAA regulations and maintain any and all documentation regarding deviations ... passing the buck just doesn't cut it.