HOMOSASSA, Fla. – Air traffic controllers who make mistakes that contribute to deadly plane crashes have been allowed to remain on the job without loss of pay or rank, a News 6 investigation has found.
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Although the Federal Aviation Administration suggests that employees who neglect their duties can be punished, the agency declined to cite a single instance where an air traffic controller had been fired for incompetence.
"I think it's shameful," said Christina Schippers, whose husband and stepson died in a plane crash. "If it was my job or your job, do you think we would still be there? Absolutely not."
In 2009, Rick Schippers and his son Shane joined Central Florida businessmen Malcolm Lavender and Paul Mazak on a hunting excursion in Texas.
After the trip, as Mazak piloted a Beechcraft twin engine plane back home to Leesburg Airport, the aircraft began to approach severe weather just west of Corpus Christi. He contacted Houston's Air Route Traffic Control for assistance.
"Yes, there is a very significant squall line between you and your destination," responded air traffic controller Mike Farrior. " Not sure how you'll get through, but we'll work on it somehow."
The pilot informed Farrior he saw a "hole" in the weather, which the air traffic controller later told federal investigators he also recalled seeing on his own weather radar display. So Farrior gave the pilot clearance to fly through the apparent break in the storm.
However, there was no gap in the weather, according to a National Transportation Safety Board investigation. The NTSB later learned Farrior had altered the background color on his weather radar display, making the more severe weather appear darker than usual.
The NTSB also found that Farrior had not been wearing his required glasses with corrective lenses for distant vision.
"Although the pilot requested assistance in avoiding the squall line... the controller did not provide the pilot with the information as required," the NTSB crash investigation concluded.
Records indicate Mazak tried to reverse course just prior to his aircraft crashing near Benavides, Texas, killing all four aboard.
"It was horrible thing. I'm very sorry there was a loss of life. It was a busy day. There were a lot of planes going on," Farrior told News 6 in a recent interview. "I did not see, until his altitude drop, the weather he was in. I'm sorry that it turned out that way."
After the crash, Farrior said he spent seven weeks in re-training. But the veteran air traffic controller acknowledged that he was not punished by the FAA. Farrior was not demoted and did not lose any pay, he told News 6.
Farrior continued to work for the FAA for more than five years after the deadly crash. He retired in April.
During a civil deposition, one of Farrior's co-workers said he not explain why he did not speak up when he noticed the Beechcraft headed into trouble. That FAA employee remains on the job at the Air Route Traffic Control Center in Houston.
"I believe they should have all lost their jobs," said Schippers, who indicated it was a slap in the face to her family that Farrior was allowed to return to work. "Something should have happened. Not just a re-training so you know to put your glasses on."
Air traffic controllers in other U.S. cities have also been allowed to remain working after making critical errors, News 6 has learned.
In 2009, a mid-air collision between a helicopter and plane over New York's Hudson River was partially attributed to an air traffic controller's "non-pertinent telephone conversation" with his girlfriend, according to an NTSB report.
An FAA employee directory indicates Carlyle Turner is now employed in air traffic control operations in Virginia.
"The FAA has learned through experience that a non-punitive safety culture encourages employees to share information and engage in frank and open discussions about situations that they might otherwise be reluctant to bring to a supervisor's attention," an FAA representative wrote in a statement. "In cases involving willful neglect or dereliction of duties by an employee, the agency does not hesitate to take the appropriate measures as defined under agency policies and collective bargaining agreements."
Following the crash that killed Schippers's husband and stepson, the FAA said it conducted a thorough review and immediately implemented ways to better share weather information with pilots.
"If (the FAA) thinks there's going to be any kind of litigation involved, they let them continue working," said Pete Burgess, an aviation industry consultant who used to work for the FAA. "They don't do anything,"
Aviation attorney Jeannete Lewis said she, too, has seen examples of air traffic controllers remaining on the job after making critical errors.
"The pilot is in control. They are the ultimate decision-maker," said Lewis. "But the reality of the situation is that the pilot doesn't always have the tools available to him on that airplane to be able to make the best decision. They depend on these controllers to essentially guide them through. Their lives depend on it."
Lewis, who represented Christina Schippers in her lawsuit against the federal government, believes there needs to be more accountability for air traffic controllers.
"It's easier to slap them on the hand, put them in re-training, and stick them back on the scope," said Lewis, who believes provisions in the union contract make it costly and time-consuming for the FAA to discipline air traffic controllers. "The government doesn't have anything to lose when people die, other than the monetary effects of litigation."
Records obtained by News 6 show the federal government has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts related to air traffic control mistakes, including a settlement reached with Schippers's family.
"You've got people's lives in your hands up there, said Shippers. "And I don't believe you're feeling the severity of what's going on up there and the terror these folks are going through."