A recent Seattle Times report into the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) handling of whistleblower complaints details “an overwhelmed system delivering underwhelming results for whistleblowers.”
In response to the slew of highly publicized whistleblower allegations against Boeing in 2024, the Seattle Times examined FAA reports submitted to Congress between 2020 and 2023 to understand how the agency was handling whistleblower disclosures.
According to the Seattle Times’ analysis, “More than 90% of safety complaints from 2020 through 2023 ended with no violation found by the FAA, while whistleblowers reported them at great personal and professional risk.”
During the timeframe, there were 728 whistleblower complaints filed with the FAA. The Seattle Times reports that “the Office of Audit and Evaluation dismissed nearly 4 out of 10 before reaching the fact-finding phase.”
“It’s impossible to know how many of the hundreds of complaints the FAA summarily dismisses each year are in fact meritless,” the Seattle Times’ report states.
The Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR21) is the United States’ airline safety whistleblower law. Originally passed in 2000, the law prohibits airline companies, both carriers and manufacturers, from retaliating against employees who blow the whistle on safety concerns.
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