Swift Aviation investigated by FAA, OSHA

N826AW

N826AW

Well-Known Member
Swift Aviation, the company in charge of flying the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks to their destinations, along with providing service for corporate and commercial jets, is now under scrutiny by the feds. Both the FAA and OSHA are investigating the company. 12 News sources say the probes focus on safety and maintenance issues. Pictures provided to 12 News by a former employee include a broken windshield on a 737 plane. Sources tell 12 News that the windshield was installed by someone who was not certified. The source claims it broke twice during take-off. the company disputes that it was installed improperly. Another picture shows a broken latch on a red Swift Aviation truck. Our source claims it was written up several times and ignored. We were also told by that source that an employee fell out of the truck and was injured. Another picture shows a regional jet where an employee claims a janitor, not an airline mechanic, was working on it. The company calls the claim absolutely absurd.

There's also a picture of a plane with broken nose gear from September of 2008. The employee working on it claims he was told to lie to investigators. a supervisor supposedly told him to quote "Keep your mouth shut. We don't want to pay for it." Two employees, one who still works at Swift, claim they were asked to lie to investigators about maintenance issues.
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"We would never ask any employee to lie about anything," said Swift Aviation Vice President Kevin Burdette. "Because of the nature of our business we're a complete open book." We have great personnel. They do the job right."

The company's owner is Jerry Moyes. He's the embattled owner of the Phoenix Coyotes. Right now, he's in bankruptcy court over the team's future. Last week, OSHA had asked Swift to take care of the truck latch issues and the company did that. This week OSHA teams re-opened their investigation but they refuse to tell 12 News why.
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http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2009/10/22/20091022SwiftAviation10222009-CR.html
 
God, talk about the government taking our liberties! Where are the "Don't Tread on Me Folks" ... we need to protest the government taking away a business's right to be shady and bend the rules!

:sarcasm:
 
Itchy said:
Maybe the mechanic was dressed as a janitor. Halloween anybody? Hello?
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Or maybe the mechanic was dressed like a mechanic...which would make them look just like a janitor. Gee, imagine that.

We've had parts replaced on the Hawker that break again as we taxi away from the maintenance hangar. It's because all the damn OEMs are out to save a buck, so they take broken or worn out parts, test them on a bench (which is NOTHING like real world usage), yellow tag them and then stick them back on the shelf. It doesn't mean we're shady, or that the mechanics aren't qualified. It simply means that the OEM's are supplying crappy parts.

Then again, if they are carrying out shady practices, shame on them...and take back everything I said.
 
Sorry, I only trust the minimum of what media reporst. About all I will take at face value here is that the FAA has interest in the company for possible violations. Even that might be stretching the truth.
 
Hmm interesting. Even though I was just the van driver and I hate Mr Moyes with a passion I did enjoy my time working there. Anybody know if Jim is still driving?
 
Sadly Jim was fired by Moyes himself. Times weren't so good, so Jim would sit at his desk and read a book when it was slow. Jerry saw him sitting reading a book and fired him on the spot. Jim worked there for like 10 years and was a great employee. It wasn't his fault Swift was slow. He was in his 60's what is he supposed to do when it's slow, scrub the floors? Well maybe since it seems the janitors were working on planes instead of cleaning.
 
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