A National Transportation Safety Board Administrative Law Judge recently reversed an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) emergency order of revocation issued in June 2008 that grounded Punta Gorda, FL-based Air Trek. This action clears the way for the aeromedical transport company to resume operations.
The FAA issued an emergency order indefinitely suspending Air Trek’s Part 135 certificate in May 2008, but two weeks later withdrew its suspension order and instead issued an emergency order of revocation.
The air ambulance company based at the Charlotte County (FL) Airport had its operating license revoked on June 10. The FAA suspended Air Trek’s carrier’s license on May 23.
Further inspections, which turned up more serious problems than those cited previously, led the FAA to revoke Air Trek’s license. “Our findings as a part of that investigation indicated that revocation was in order as opposed to the suspension,” said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the FAA’s southern region.
The FAA’s emergency revocation letter cited 14 air traffic safety regulation violations, including flying aircraft that had not been deemed safe, failure to follow weight guidelines, deceptively recording maintenance shortfalls, allowing pilots to make international flights without proper training or certification, and letting pilots fly after they had failed required tests.
“Air Trek’s systemic noncompliance with regulatory requirements is unacceptable and a danger to the flying public,” the FAA’s letter said.
According to the FAA’s emergency order of suspension, the company: failed to abide by guidelines regulating aircraft weight and balance; allowed unqualified pilots to command international flights; allowed pilots to fly after they failed required competency/proficiency checks; did not provide pilots adequate rest time; did not maintain equipment and records as required by airworthiness directives; did not perform timely inspections; and, lacks sufficient qualified management and technical personnel to ensure the safety of its operations.
Air Trek transported sick or injured people between clinics and hospitals both in and out of the United States, using seven Cessna aircraft, including four Cessna 500s, and a Westwind 1124A.
The FAA noted that three Air Trek aircraft crashed over the past three years, with one resulting in six fatalities.
Air Trek appealed the FAA’s action to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as prescribed by law.
The NTSB ALJ issued an oral initial decision on October 17, reversing the FAA’s emergency revocation order.
During the NTSBN hearing, the FAA withdrew six of the ten counts in the revocation order and dismissed nine of 14 alleged regulatory violations.
At the termination of the hearing, the remaining two findings of violation by the law judge related only to flight operations that occurred at Air Trek’s Winchester, VA (OKV) base of operations, which had been closed since January 2007 (more than 1 1/2 years prior to issuance of the revocation order).
Specifically, the law judge found that the Winchester pilots did not follow the company’s Operations Specifications and General Operations Manual concerning the reporting of mechanical irregularities and calculation of weight and balance. As a result, the law judge found a violation of 14 C.F.R. sections 119.5(g) (i.e., violation of operations specifications), and a residual violation of 91.13(a). These findings were limited to the Winchester pilot operations only.
Throughout his decision, the law judge credited testimony finding that regulatory violations by the Winchester pilots were not “directed, caused, or permitted” by management.
As a result, the FAA did not present evidence to support a finding that Air Trek “lacks the qualifications necessary to hold an Air Carrier Certificate,” as alleged in the revocation order, according to Air Trek’s lawyers.
“By contrast, the law judge found the testimony of former Winchester pilots, Garrett Lunde and John Roberts, to be unreliable. He found that both pilots were obviously biased against Air Trek’s management, and therefore, were not credible,” the defendant’s lawyers added.
The law judge held that the FAA failed to present any evidence that aircraft were actually operated in an unairworthy condition, as alleged throughout the revocation order.
He ordered that Air Trek’s certificate be suspended until the company provides adequate safeguards to ensure ongoing future compliance with the Federal Aviation Regulations.
Air Trek was represented by Gregory Winton of Aviation Law Experts. According to Winton, “this case is just another example of an inadequate FAA investigation leading to protracted litigation without substantial justification. In fact, during the hearing the law judge described certain allegations as ‘absurd’.”
Winton told Air Safety Week that the FAA has ten days from issuance of the NTSB ALJ’s order to appeal. Barring reversal of the law judge’s decision, Air Trek management will seek to have the suspension lifted, restoring its air ambulance services. Before that happens, however, company pilots would need to be checked out and company aircraft and air operations would have to pass FAA muster.