How Not to Handle the Press

Let me see if I got this right: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) barred its inspectors from talking to a reporter about contract maintenance facilities, so Mike Gonzales, in his capacity as a representative of the inspectors' union, the Professional Airways System Specialists (PASS), was given permission for the reporter to tour one such facility in October 2005. The FAA is now trying to fire Gonzales for his efforts.

The FAA isn't talking about the case, saying it does not comment on personnel matters.

The reporter in question, Frank Koughan, says, "The charges that we lied our way in are bogus, and it saddens me to see this." What's clear is that action against Gonzales would not have been taken if reporter Koughan had not contacted the maintenance facility's higher headquarters to ask a couple of follow-up questions based on what had been seen at the facility.

His questions prompted the FAA to conduct an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the visit. On May 15, 2006, the FAA sent Gonzales a letter indicating it intended to fire him. To quote from the letter:
"During your visit at [the maintenance facility], you observed an aircraft with a damaged tail section. You asked [a facility employee] what happened to the aircraft. The employee informed you that the damage occurred while employees were moving the aircraft.
"Reason #1: Misuse of your position.
"Specification: You asked if you could bring an individual with you to the facility to observe and perform a 'mock surveillance.' … While there, you displayed your green FAA employee identification badge from a lanyard around your neck. Your actions gave the appearance that you intended to mislead [the facility] company personnel into believing that you were on officially-sanctioned business and that you used your position and credentials as an ASI [aviation safety inspector] for the purpose of furthering a union agenda."

To these charges, Gonzales responded in a June 18, 2006, letter as follows:
"I asked [local maintenance facility officials] permission to visit … for the purpose of showing Mr. Koughan what an ASI does when they visit these facilities and what types of aircraft maintenance is performed … I made it clear … that I was representing PASS and not on official FAA business. … Any surveillance, findings and requested responses performed by me were not official and were conducted for the benefit of Mr. Koughan."

Significantly, Gonzales recognized in this letter that the facility official they were dealing with did not first clear the visit with his higher headquarters.

Koughan weighed in with a summary to the FAA of the visit:
"You note correctly in your proposal that Mr. Gonzales 'noted findings and requested response to the findings.' Noting findings was done, as I've mentioned, for the purpose of teaching me what an ASI looks for. Requesting responses was done because some of the findings were genuinely alarming, and Mr. Gonzales believed public safety was at stake. One could infer from your proposal that such an action is considered a firing offense at FAA. …
"At no time did Mr. Gonzales misrepresent himself, nor did he misrepresent who I was, nor did he misrepresent what we were doing there. Any suggestion to the contrary is not only outrageous, but is clearly contradicted by my notes and tape recordings of that day's visit."

The failure, it seems, was in the maintenance facility official not getting clearance for the visit from his higher headquarters.

The results of the visit were documented in a story that appeared in the July/August issue of Mother Jones magazine, under the title "Waiting to Happen," as in FAA oversight of the airlines is so thin, with overstretched inspectors, that an accident from maintenance related causes could happen at any time.

If the FAA had seized the initiative at the outset, and responded to the request for an interview on ASI duties, this whole fiasco would have been avoided. The FAA would have been able to articulate its position on repair station oversight, and the appearance of firing a PASS official for conducting a tour the FAA declined would have been avoided.