U.S. Customs and Border Protection has withheld damning details about a near-fatal helicopter crash during a 2021 training exercise, and attempted to cover up violations at a “secret” flight school that led to it, whistleblower disclosures obtained exclusively by The Post. show.
CBP’s Air and Marine Operations division abused its authority and posed “a substantial and specific danger to public safety” by allowing most of its fleet of AS350 light helicopters to operate without crash-resistant fuel tanks and allowing that the pilots fly with minimum certifications, according to the revelations.
Contemporaneous reporting from a local ABC affiliate described for the first time how on May 12, 2021, a CBP pilot in training and an instructor narrowly avoided death while performing an aerial maneuver that caused their helicopter to crash in a field near from a flight training center outside Oklahoma City.
The plane “burned to the ground” and the couple was briefly hospitalized for minor injuries, but the reasons for the crash were never revealed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection withheld damning details about a near-fatal helicopter crash in 2021, whistleblower disclosures obtained exclusively by The Post show. The US Customs and Border Protection agency has attempted to cover up security breaches at its flight school “in secret” which led to it. US Customs and Border Protection
The agency has maintained the flight school to give pilots with minimal qualifications a chance to “fill out their flight logs,” but its first student was the trainee who crashed the helicopter, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
“This leads to minimally qualified airmen being selected for very difficult pilot missions,” the source said, noting that there have also been a half-dozen other mishaps due to poor safety precautions.
The Air and Marine Operations division’s congressionally approved funding is tied to the number of flight hours it regularly logs, but those hours are supposed to be focused primarily on operational tasks rather than flight training with instructors, according to the source. .
An internal aircraft accident report following the May 2021 crash found that the pilot-in-training was the “primary causative factor” and had submitted an invalid exemption regarding flight hours accrued prior to operating the helicopter.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas (above right) contacted CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the accident, and the office found that the trainee flew with an invalid exemption.WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/ Shutterstock
But officials tried to hide the details of that report.
Robert Blanchard, executive director of CBP’s Air and Marine Operations division, “incorrectly attempted to remove critical information” about the contracting process and dangerous fuel tanks from the mishap report findings in December 2021 “due to the possibility of a negative public response and a legal increase.” responsibility,” according to whistleblower allegations later confirmed by an internal agency investigation.
The CBP division’s former director of training, security and standards, Joseph Adams, made the protected disclosures about the alleged cover-up to the Office of Special Counsel after Blanchard asked him to remove the information from the final report.
Adams, who retired in October after 15 years with the division, also alleged that senior CBP officials retaliated against him and threatened to fire him following the revelations, which the Office of Special Counsel is investigating separately.
The CBP division’s former director of training, security and standards, Joseph Adams, made the protected disclosures about the alleged cover-up to the Office of Special Counsel. US Customs and Border Protection
Last June, special counsel Henry Kerner referred the whistleblowers’ allegations to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who turned to CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the matter.
That office confirmed in May 2023 that 81 of 97 light helicopters are operating without crash-resistant fuel tanks and that Blanchard attempted to remove that fact and information about the new pilot hiring process from his division’s final mishap report, having told Adams in an email. the details were “a litigation risk.”
All CBP light control helicopters have required crash-resistant fuel tanks since 2006 to reduce the likelihood of fires after a crash.
Special Counsel Henry Kerner approached CBP in August to ask whether the report’s conclusions would trigger disciplinary action by the agency. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
However, the Office of Professional Responsibility stated in the report that the helicopter fleet did not violate Federal Aviation Administration rules, since the requirement does not apply to aircraft designed before 1994.
The Office of Special Counsel approached CBP in August asking whether the report’s findings would trigger disciplinary action by the agency and whether it intended to retrofit crash-resistant fuel tanks in the future.
On September 18, Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller responded in a letter that the report would be sent to an internal Disciplinary Review Board for consideration, while noting that Blanchard was scheduled to retire at the end of month, according to a copy obtained by The Charge.
“CBP has decided not to modernize the current fleet,” the letter also states, but “has chosen to retire and replace the fleet that lacks collision value.” [sic] fuel tanks.”
The letter does not mention changes to policies related to the flight school.
In a separate letter sent to the White House in July laying out the details of his case, Adams also noted that other CBP officials aware of the reasons for the crash had been allowed to quietly withdraw before any action was taken. disciplinary, according to a copy. obtained by The Post.
The Office of Special Counsel has followed up with a request to CBP for an additional supplemental report on the case, with a response expected on November 20.
“CBP takes seriously its obligation to investigate all allegations and has an established process to investigate whistleblower matters,” a spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “CBP Air and Marine Operations remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of training and proficiency for our pilots.”
“AMO operates and maintains all of its light control helicopters in accordance with manufacturers’ standards and Federal Aviation Regulations,” the spokesperson added, also mentioning that some aircraft were in the process of being retrofitted for crash-resistant fuel tanks.
The Office of Special Counsel did not respond to a request for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn