FAA Spends Investigators To Naples

The FAA sent inspectors to a Naples, FL medevac operation this week, to investigate a complaint levied by a former employee of the county's Emergency Medical Services program... but as it turns out, the company had previously filed a complaint against the former worker.

The Naples Daily News reports Dwaine Parker is a full-time pilot and deputy for the Collier County Sheriff's Office. He once worked part-time for EMS, though he no longer works for the operation that flies patient transport missions under the Medflight banner.

Parker filed a 13-page complaint with the FAA last month, alleging a series of operational and safety concerns. Parker also claims the company made organizational changes several years ago without properly updating the Medflight operations manual.

Here's where the issue gets muddled. EMS filed a complaint against Parker first, asserting the former pilot claimed he was an FAA investigator while under oath during a post-termination appeal hearing for a former colleague. Jeff Page, operations director at EMS, said Parker's supervisor informed the company Parker was not affiliated with the FAA in that capacity.

Parker counters Page replaced EMS chief pilot Terry Henderson as director of helicopter ops, despite the fact he had no prior aviation experience or training... a situation that caused considerable discord for an organization already suffering from a high turnover rate, he says.

Parker also claims an "undue burden" is placed on EMS pilots to fly in hazardous weather conditions, for fear of being pulled off flight line duty... and that pilots are discouraged from submitting safety concerns.

"The turnover rate over the past four years is extreme to say the least; replacement of four full-time pilots, three directors of maintenance as well as over 20 flight medics," Parker wrote in his complaint. "If the unusual high turnover rate was not a red flag for safety related concerns, the continuous operational decisions which treat the aircraft and program employees the same as a ground-based program should raise a red flag to safety."

Page replied he thinks Parker filed his complaint in retaliation of the investigation into the pilot's assertion he worked for the FAA, which came during a May 2008 appeal hearing after another pilot, Mark Holmes, was fired for violating safety rules.

FMI: www.colliergov.net/Index.aspx?page=102, www.faa.gov