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CBP not following regulations????


CBP not following regulations????  

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Author: Whistleblower Joe   Date: 11/19/2023 1:57:32 PM  +1/-2  

CBP hid details about near-fatal helicopter crash at secret flight school: whistleblower

 
 

US Customs and Border Protection has papered over damning details about a near-fatal helicopter crash during a training exercise in 2021 —

and attempted to cover up violations at an “under wraps” flight school that led to it, whistleblower disclosures exclusively obtained 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 AS350 light helicopter fleet to operate without crash-resistant fuel tanks and permitting pilots to fly with minimal certifications, according to the revelations.

Contemporaneous reports from a local ABC affiliate first described how on May 12, 2021, a CBP pilot in training and an instructor narrowly avoided death while conducting an aerial maneuver that caused their helicopter to crash in a field near a flight training center outside Oklahoma City.

The aircraft “burned down to its frame” and the pair were briefly hospitalized for minor injuries — but the reasons for the crash were never disclosed.

 
"c.t":14}">CBP hid details about near-fatal helicopter crash at secret flight school: whistleblower
 
US Customs and Border Protection papered over damning details about a near-fatal helicopter crash in 2021, whistleblower disclosures exclusively obtained by The Post show.U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
 
"c.t":14}">CBP hid details about near-fatal helicopter crash at secret flight school: whistleblower
The agency has attempted to cover up safety violations at its “under wraps” flight school that led to it.U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

The flight school has been kept by the agency to give pilots with minimal qualifications the opportunity to “pad their logbooks” — but its first student was the trainee who crashed the helicopter, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

“This leads to minimally skilled aviators being selected for very difficult pilot assignments,” the source said, pointing out that half a dozen other mishaps have also occurred 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 records, but those hours are supposed to be focused primarily on operational duties rather than flight training with instructors, according to the source.

An internal aircraft mishap report following the May 2021 crash found that the pilot in training was the “primary causal factor” and had presented an invalid waiver concerning accumulated flight hours before operating the helicopter.

 

 

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CBP not following regulations???? +1/-2 Whistleblower Joe 11/19/2023 1:57:32 PM