Broken wings: both current and former employees of DynCorp, one of the federal government's largest contractors, have accused the company of taking a fly-by-night attitude toward maintenance of military aircraft

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 29, 2002 | by Kelly Patricia O'Meara

Johnston recalled "one pilot who refused to fly any plane that one particular DynCorp technician worked on. We had technicians leaving washers on the aircraft, and when the plane was started up these things were flying all over the place. This trashed a few of the blades and caused a great deal of damage, but to my knowledge these guys are still there twisting wrenches for DynCorp."

While DynCorp takes in hundreds of millions of dollars from federal maintenance contracts with the U.S. military, the company also is responsible for the maintenance contract for all aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters, for the State Department's operation involved in Plan Colombia, the program for eradicating drug crops in Central America. INSIGHT also heard from DynCorp employees there who questioned management's attention to safety.

According to another source, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, "the stated mission of the Department of State International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Air Wing [DoS/INL] is to eradicate illegal narcotics in the most efficient manner. In addition to eradication, it is the responsibility of DoS/INL to train in-country nationals in all aspects of the program so that they can become independent of the U.S. To accomplish this mission, DoS/INL depends on contractors to perform the preponderance of all actual functions. It is believed that the current price for these services is about $400 million. Currently there is very little effort to train indigenous persons to take over the mission. If Colombian nationals were trained it would eliminate the need for DynCorp. In fact, DynCorp officials have expressed sentiments like `they're too f****** dumb to learn.'"

This same source further explains that "the DoS air wing currently has the highest fatal and nonfatal aircraft accident rate of all other federal agencies that operate aircraft. It also has the dubious distinction of having the highest fatal-accident rate compared to the civilian crop-dusting community. This situation has evolved over the past year because of improper management and implementation of practices viewed as arbitrary and suicidal. What makes this so frustrating is that members knowledgeable about the OV-10 and crop-dusting operations recommended against the current formation crop-dusting practices, but OV-10 pilots employed by DynCorp are instructed to not question any procedure or management principle. Several pilots have expressed their concern about the on-going situation, but are afraid to mention anything to management. As in the past, pilots that do ask questions are fired."

Asked about the safety of State Department aircraft, a spokesman for the department tells INSIGHT "it is impossible that they have the worst record. The INL aviation team just won the first Federal Aviation Program Award for the safest, most efficient and effective Federal Aviation operations." The award was based on overall excellence and innovative achievement during calendar-year 2000. Two OV-10 fatal aircraft crashes have occurred in the last six months.