Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland – No New Flights Over Rockland County, New York
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
217 East 86th Street, PMB 221
New York, NY 10028 USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
e-mail:
brightline@att.netWednesday, May 14, 2008 - URGENT
VIA FAX: 1-202-228-4054, 1-973-639-8723; 1-856-338-8936; and U.S. MAIL
Honorable Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The United States Senate, The United States Capitol
324 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 USA
VIA E-MAIL, and U.S. MAIL
David Matsuda, Legislative Assistant
Office of Honorable Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
The United States Senate, The United States Capitol
324 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 USA
Re: Outrageous Wrong-Way Departures Out Of Newark Airport/FAA Culpability Therefor
Dear Senator Lautenberg, and David Matsuda:
I have already expressed to both of you how grateful I am for your responsiveness and wonderful work on FAA matters.
As I believe you already know, Acting Administrator “Bobby” Sturgell and his gang of yahoo aero-mercantalists, are at it again. And once again it is truly nothing at all to joke about.
Senator Lautenberg, Mr. Sturgell lied to you and other Senators under oath about Wrong-Way Departures out of Newark Airport, feigning his ignorance about their details, in the February 8, 2008 Hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. And then, over three (3) months elapsed, and Sturgell never fixed the problem. Indeed, the FAA now seeks to further conceal the problem from view and hearing.
Attached/enclosed is an updated copy of my initial letter to, inter alia, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, New Jersey. The letter asks that those offices pursue criminal action against Mr. Sturgell and others at FAA, under 49 United States Code § 46318 (Title 49, Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart iv, Chapter 463). That statute contemplates prosecution of any individual that “takes any action that poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft”.
I am also hereby iterating my formal request to you and your staff, presaged by a phone inquiry made by my Quiet Rockland colleague Tom Sullivan to your colleague David Matsuda earlier this week, that you please cause the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) to hold expedited hearings on this potential life-and-death urgent matter. I have copied the full Senate CST Committee and also the full House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on this letter, in the interests of bringing the full power of both chambers to bear upon this dramatic problem. What affects Newark and environs today could affect every other city in this nation tomorrow - and everyone in Congress, even beyond the two committees, has a serious interest in aviation safety.
In the event that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are not able to quickly respond to the Newark Wrong-Way Departures and the FAA malfeasance that continues to cause them, then your Committee’s swift response could turn out to be in retrospect the only thing that prevents, God forbid, two or more passenger-filled, fuel-laden jumbo-jets from colliding with each other mid-air near Newark, New Jersey. Unfortunately “Bobby” Sturgell’s incompetence has compelled Congress to act in default of the FAA. The people of New Jersey and the innocent citizens of this country must be protected against what is now a horribly-foreseeable disaster waiting to happen.
Please save us from this.
As I said to my Quiet Rockland colleague Tom Sullivan several days ago: “We now have (1) low-fuel landings into Newark, and (2) wrong-way departures out of Newark. Good lord. The one thing that is clear is that this FAA gang can do nothing right - and, if we cannot effect regime change at FAA now, then there must be something wrong with US.
Thank you for your courtesies and your continued efforts, which Mr. Sullivan and I stand ready to assist on at any time asked. Let’s please have immediate Congressional hearings on the Newark Wrong-Way Departures, and let’s find another line of employ for “Acting” FAA Administrator “Bobby” Sturgell.
Respectfully submitted,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
Quiet Rockland – No New Flights Over Rockland County, New York
LETTER TO THE FBI AND U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE IN NEWARK, NJ
EDITED AS OF MAY 14, 2008
Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
217 East 86th Street, PMB 221
New York, NY 10028 USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
e-mail: brightline@att.net
May 12, 2008
VIA FAX: 1-973-792-3035, and U.S. MAIL
Special Agent In Charge Weysan Dun, Newark Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
11 Centre Place
Newark, NJ 07102 USA
VIA FAX: 1-973-645-2702, and U.S. MAIL
United States Attorney Christopher J. Christie
Newark U.S. Attorney’s Office
970 Broad Street, 7th Floor
Newark, NJ 07102 USA
VIA E-MAIL: “
hotline@oig.dot.gov”, and U.S. MAIL
The Honorable Calvin L. Scovel III
Inspector General, United States Department of Transportation
P.O. Box 708
Fredericksburg, VA 22404 USA
VIA FAX: 1-540-373-2090, and U.S. MAIL
The Honorable Calvin L. Scovel III
Inspector General, United States Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave. S.E. - 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20590 USA
Re: Apparent Wrong-Way Airplane Departures Out Of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
Potential Criminal Culpability Of The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Newark, New Jersey
Dear Special Agent Dun, U.S. Attorney Christie, and Honorable Inspector General Scovel:
I am an attorney in New York who writes you as a private citizen and complainant. While I do not have direct personal knowledge of the subject events, I offer the following upon information and belief, and ask your response.
Exhibit “A” annexed hereto is an Associated Press news item, as picked-up and published two days ago by a Philadelphia, PA newspaper and other media sources. You likely have seen it and/or one or more similar articles. The article discusses jet airplanes departing in the wrong direction (“Wrong-Way Departures”) out of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The Wrong-Way Departures may be some of the same ones inquired about by Honorable Senator Frank Lautenberg in the February 8, 2008 FAA Hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST).
I am asking your respective offices for the unusual. I am asking for one federal agency to pursue another. However, I am sure you aware that the FBI is already investigating a different matter involving the FAA, relating to the apparent threats made against aviation inspector whistle-blowers, as discussed at Exhibit “B” hereinbelow.
Exhibit “C” is a copy of a prior Friday April 11 article regarding Newark Wrong-Way Departures.
I am asking you to please investigate, and then cause the criminal prosecution of, those in FAA management responsible for the EWR Wrong-Way Departures. I am asking for the criminal prosecution of those in FAA management responsible for enabling, facilitating, and/or defending the EWR Wrong-Way Departures. Upon information and belief, those FAA persons responsible for the EWR Wrong-Way Departures include without limitation one James (Jim) Peters, and also one Robert Allan (“Bobby”) Sturgell, the latter whom is the Acting Administrator, for now, of the FAA. To the extent I become aware of the names of additional FAA persons that I have reason to believe are also participating in this wrongful conduct, I intend to forward those names to you.
My analysis of the articles at Exhibit “A” and Exhibit “C”, is as follows. Notwithstanding their apparent protestations to the contrary, the FAA is deliberately withholding publication and communication of new departure flight paths out of EWR. This threatens the public safety and is, inter alia, morally reprehensible.
The FAA is thereby making it difficult if not impossible for those needing this information, to obtain this information – namely, pilots, and air traffic controllers (ATCs). This series of willful acts on the part of FAA management and personnel have already caused, and will continue to cause, confusion amongst pilots and ATCs alike, as to the direction in which certain planes should depart out of EWR. Apparently, according to the article annexed hereto as Exhibit “A”, the Associated Press is in possession of, or has access to, audiotapes proving that confusion – tapes which I am certain are within your subpoena power or equivalent. The FAA-caused confusion is reported to have resulted in a number of planes departing EWR in the wrong direction. My objective is to do everything humanly possible to prevent the horrific result of one such plane crashing into another, or comparable unacceptable aviation catastrophe. I am a New Yorker and a proud American. I lost friends in the Towers. I have lived through enough air disaster for any one lifetime.
There are several theories as to why FAA would deliberately “sand-bag” pilots and ATCs, and intentionally prevent the pilots from being informed of the specifics of the new departure patterns until after the pilots are already on take-off tarmac. FAA may thereby hope to conceal tangible hard-copy evidence which: (1) alarms previously-unsuspecting NJ residents of previously-unexperienced overflights over their heads and homes; (2) proves that FAA is seeking to rush the NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign (“Redesign”) ahead of Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit results; and/or (3) proves that FAA failed to follow their own prior Environmental Impact Study (EIS) when changing Newark departure paths as part of the first of several planned phases of the Redesign.
Whatever the motivation, FAA’s conduct is unacceptable and in my view, criminal. While I defer to you gentlemen as to the provisions of applicable federal criminal law and state criminal law that may apply - and while I would defer to New Jersey-admitted practitioners to opine on whether reckless endangerment statutes such as 2C:12-2 or other analogous NJ statutes or provisions of law might apply - I suggest the following:
“49 United States Code (U.S.C.) § 46318 (Title 49, Subtitle VII, Part A, Subpart iv, Chapter 463)
Interference with cabin or flight crew
(a) General Rule.— An individual who physically assaults or threatens to physically assault a member of the flight crew or cabin crew of a civil aircraft or any other individual on the aircraft, or takes any action that poses an imminent threat to the safety of the aircraft or other individuals on the aircraft is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of not more than $25,000”. [Emphasis added].
I contend that if the factual accounts in Exhibit “A” are accurate, then Mr. Sturgell, his agency, and his underlings, including Mr. Peters, are taking action which regularly “poses an imminent threat to the safety of aircraft” and “individuals on the aircraft” which depart from and arrive at EWR. At minimum the FAA perpetrators should be fined.
Additionally, 49 U.S.C. §40103(b)(2) reads, in relevant part:
“The Administrator [of the Federal Aviation Administration] shall prescribe air traffic regulations on the flight of aircraft (including regulations on safe altitudes) for -- ...(B) protecting individuals and property on the ground” [Emphasis added].
It is herein asserted that Acting Administrator Sturgell’s failure and refusal to cause the adequate publication and dissemination of the new EWR departure flight patterns to pilots, is a violation of 49 U.S.C. §40103(b)(2) and the Administrator’s duty to protect us and our property on the ground.
I ask that you please look into this matter and, if possible and if appropriate, inform me as to what if any action you may be able to take to protect the health, safety and welfare of innocent residents of the Northeast like myself affected by this problem. I am appreciative of your time and your professional courtesies.
Respectfully submitted,
John J. Tormey III, Esq.
EXHIBIT “A”
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-05102008-1532004.htmlplease see also:
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/new-york-airspa.html?cid=114523792#comment-114523792Home / New Jersey News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Controllers: Airspace redesign causing wrong turns at Newark
By DAVID PORTER
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. - A new takeoff pattern aimed at easing congestion at Newark Liberty International Airport has confused some pilots and led to several incidents in which planes turned in the wrong direction, according to the union that represents air traffic controllers.
Three of the incidents occurred in the last nine days, according to Ray Adams, vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union at Newark.
Many pilots aren't notified of the specifics of the new pattern until they are on the runway preparing to take off, Adams said.
"It's throwing a wrench into the works, basically," he said.
Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, confirmed an incident on May 1 involving a United Airlines flight that turned the wrong way on departure. But he said FAA logs had no record of two separate incidents on May 8 involving planes operated by Virgin Atlantic and Continental.
Adams and Newark union president Ed Kragh contend, however, that a controller noted the incidents, which occurred within about an hour of each other, and notified a supervisor in writing. None of the incidents placed planes in imminent danger, Adams said.
On a recording from the Newark air traffic control tower last month obtained by The Associated Press, pilots of several planes that are minutes from takeoff are heard expressing unfamiliarity with the new pattern.
"That's a negative," a JetBlue pilot says when a controller asks if he's familiar with it. "Here's how it's going to work," the controller begins.
About two minutes later, another pilot asked the same question responds, "I don't know that we are."
Air traffic controllers at Newark have been pushing the FAA to "publish" the new pattern so that its chart is included in a book kept in every plane's cockpit. Peters said Friday the FAA won't publish it until more work is done on the overall airspace redesign.
Airlines were alerted to the new procedure by the FAA before it was instituted in December, and it is referred to in bulletins contained in the Airport Terminal Information Service, which pilots can access when they enter the cockpit and which also provides weather updates.
According to Kragh, that reference is not specific enough. He said when the new procedure was implemented, Newark controllers initially gave pilots specific information about the takeoff procedure when they first made contact with the tower, about 30 minutes before takeoff.
That prompted so many questions from pilots that it interfered with controllers' ability to carry out their duties, Kragh said, and controllers were ordered by supervisors not to specify the new procedure until planes were on the runway. The FAA did not comment on that claim.
The new takeoff pattern from Newark is part of the first phase of a general redesign of the airspace around New York. The plan also included a cap on the number of flights at JFK Airport.
Congestion at the region's three major airports , Newark, JFK and La Guardia , have been blamed in recent federal reports for causing significant delays nationwide.
At Newark, planes departing to the southwest have historically turned to the left immediately on takeoff. Under the new procedure, they can be directed to turn to the right.
The new pattern is used during peak times to allow planes to depart with less distance between them since their paths will diverge once they are airborne, according to Kragh.
When a pilot turns the wrong way on takeoff, that can put the planes closer together than is allowed under FAA regulations, Kragh said.
According to Peters, the fault lies with the pilots.
"The responsibility for acknowledging air traffic control instructions rests with the flight crew," he said. "If they don't comply with those instructions, it's pilot deviation."
Adams said the wrong turns place more stress on pilots during the crucial first minutes of a flight.
"Is it an imminent collision threat? No," he said. "Generally a controller can catch it. But it causes confusion and additional workload, which does raise the risk of potential problems."
May 10, 2008 1:25 PM
EXHIBIT “B”
http://cbs11tv.com/local/Southwest.Airlines.FAA.2.674307.html?detectflash=falseMar 10, 2008 8:59 pm US/
FBI Investigates Threat On FAA & SWA Whistleblower
Reporting
Jack Fink DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
CBS 11 News has learned the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into possible threats, made against a local FAA inspector who blew the whistle on his agency and Southwest Airlines. Whistleblowers complained FAA managers and Southwest had a cozy relationship, which allowed planes to fly without required safety inspections.
In a newly released federal report, two DFW-based FAA inspectors, who became whistleblowers, said they believe safety at Southwest Airlines, "Took a back seat to personal friendships and favors... "
The Office of Special Counsel investigated the whistleblowers' complaints that their superiors allowed Southwest Airlines to continue flying 46 of its Boeing 737 jets, even after the airline disclosed it failed to inspect them for cracks in the fuselage as required.
The FAA's rules show that the administration and the airline should have grounded the planes until they were inspected.
Friday, Southwest's CEO insisted safety was never compromised. "Airplanes were flown with the FAA's knowledge before we completed all of the inspections eight days later," he told CBS 11 News.
The newly released documents show in January 2006, one of the whistleblowers, Bobby Boutris, complained that Southwest was "hand-selecting the inspector..."
The report says, "When Southwest officials... learned that Mr. Boutris was to lead the inspection of the airline, they met with his FAA superior, Douglas Gawadzinski, and actively sought his removal."
While Boutris was allowed to do the inspection, the report says Gawadzinski, "instructed him to delay the review until he gave the green light."
The report also shows that on March 28th of last year, after Southwest disclosed it missed important safety checks, the whistleblower, Boutris, documented 21 negative findings. When the information was reported to Gawadzinski, Boutris claims he was instructed not enter them into the FAA database.
On April 9, 2007, the report says, "Boutris was informed he was being removed from his position because an anonymous complaint had been filed against him."
CBS 11 News was unsuccessful in contacting Boutris, the other whistleblower, and Douglas Gawadzinski, who the FAA removed from overseeing Southwest Airlines last May.
On Monday, Southwest Airlines wasn't commenting. The FAA has begun a major review of Southwest's safety and maintenance procedures.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
EXHIBIT “C”
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=6074540The Eyewitness News Investigators
NEWARK -- Is airline passenger safety being compromised because of feuding between the FAA and the Air Traffic Controllers union?
Friday, April 11, 2008 11:19 PM
There is new evidence that it's happening.
A controller at Newark who claims he was trying to protect pilots and passengers has been reprimanded for disobeying orders.
The Investigators' Jim Hoffer has an exclusive report.
A few months ago, the FAA redesigned the airspace at Newark as a way to decrease departure delays by allowing more planes to take off more quickly.
But an air traffic controller who has spoken out against these plans says the FAA is now trying to silence him by threatening suspension or firing.
The FAA says the redesign of airspace enhances safety and efficiency at Newark Airport, one of the nation's busiest. It says air traffic controllers helped in the redesign plans. But this controller, an outspoken union representative at Newark tower, sees big problems in the new flight patterns.
"What we're finding is the pilots do not understand what is happening when they get on the runway at Newark Airport," air traffic controller Ray Adams said.
Two months ago, Adams was on duty at Newark tower and was told by his supervisor to direct departing planes to use the new flight pattern.
Adams: "Are you familiar with departure headings, dispersal headings?" Pilot: "That's negative." Adams: "Roger, negative."
Because the new departure deviated from the standard procedure, Adams says he wanted to make sure pilots clearly understood their directions before takeoff.
Adams: "Are you familiar with the departure headings?" Pilot: "I'm not sure that we are."
The taped communication of Adams clearly shows some pilots are confused about the departure pattern, also known as headings.
Pilot: "Can we get some information on this heading? What's going on with the departure?" Adams: "OK, someone is asking about the headings."
At one point, the FAA supervisor warns Adams to stop asking pilots if they understand the new procedure. And that's when Adams loses his cool.
Adams: "I am issuing the headings. Shut the (bleep) up. The supervisor advised me not to give you any information about the headings."
Weeks later, Adams received a letter of reprimand for failure to carry out orders and use of abusive language.
"It's a first step to a suspension or a removal action against a controller," Adams said. "This is how the FAA tries to lever you into being quiet."
The FAA insists that the new departure procedures are a safe way to reduce delays at Newark and are backed up by nearly a decade of evaluation and studies, including considerable input from air traffic controllers. But the spokesperson declined to comment on the disciplinary action. Pilots, however, who listened to the taped tower communications, say the discipline was not warranted.
Hoffer: "Did the controller do anything wrong here?" Captain Bruce Meyer, retired commercial airline pilot: "Absolutely not. He acted exactly how I would like a controller to act in the circumstances."
Meyer spent decades in the cockpit of commercial airlines in and out of Newark.
Hoffer: "Are they trying to intimidate him? Are they trying to silence him?"
Meyer: "It can have no other effect than have a chilling effect on a controller's exercise of their judgement and their experience in the operation of their duties."
The FAA says there is nothing unusual about the new departure procedures, calling them "a routine air traffic control function”.
Cobb.
Ruth.
Wagner.
Mathewson.
Johnson.
Gonzales. For the Attorneys-General firings.
Heckuva Job Brownie. For New Orleans. 
Doan. For her unique "perspective" on government contracts.
Tommy Thompson. For sending unwanted HHS "health survey" crews to my house about eight (8) separate times after I very clearly told him, and them, to please stop.
Christie Todd Whitman. For causing people to prematurely breathe the post-9/11 air.
But the true Maledictorian of this, the first class of inductees into The Federal Officials Hall Of Shame, is and shall forever be known as one Robert Allan "Bobby" Sturgell, of Owings, Maryland, the abysmal failure known as Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 2007-2008. 
