U.S. Customs and Border Protection has filed a report with sordid details about a near-fatal helicopter crash during a training exercise in 2021 — and tried to cover up violations at a “covert” flight school that caused 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 pilots to fly with minimal certification, according to revelations.
A contemporaneous report from a local ABC affiliate first described how on May 12, 2021, a CBP pilot in training and an instructor narrowly avoided death during an aerial maneuver that caused their helicopter to crash in a field near a flight training center outside of Oklahoma City.
The plane was “burnt to the bone” and the pair were briefly hospitalized with minor injuries – but the cause of the crash was never revealed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released a white paper detailing the sordid details of a near-fatal helicopter crash in 2021, whistleblower disclosures obtained exclusively by The Post show. US Customs and Border Protection The agency has tried to cover up a security breach at a “covert” flight school that led to it. US Customs and Border Protection
The flight school was retained by the agency to give minimally qualified pilots a chance to “clear their log books” – but its first students were the trainees who crashed the helicopter, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
“This led to minimally skilled pilots being selected for very difficult pilot assignments,” the source said, pointing out that half a dozen other accidents also occurred due to lax safety measures.
Congressionally approved Air and Marine Operations division funding is tied to the number of regularly logged flight hours, but those hours should be focused primarily on operational duties rather than flight training with instructors, according to the source.
An internal aircraft accident report after the May 2021 crash found that the pilot in training was a “primary causative factor” and had submitted an invalid waiver of accumulated flight hours before operating the helicopter.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (above right) tapped CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility to look into the accident and the office found the trainee was flying with an invalid waiver. WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
But officials tried to hide the details of the report.
Robert Blanchard, executive director of CBP’s Air and Marine Operations division, “improperly attempted to remove critical information” about the hiring process and hazardous fuel tanks from the December 2021 accident report findings “because of the potential for negative public backlash and increased legal -liability law,” according to the whistleblower’s allegations that were later confirmed by an internal agency investigation.
The CBP division’s former director of training, security and standards, Joseph Adams, made protected disclosures about the alleged cover-up to the Office of Special Counsel after being asked by Blanchard to remove information from the final report.
Adams, who retired in October after 15 years with the division, also alleged that CBP superiors retaliated against him and threatened to fire him following the revelations, which the Office of Special Counsel is investigating separately.
The former director of training, security and standards for the CBP division, Joseph Adams, made protected disclosures about the alleged protections to the Office of Special Counsel. US Customs and Border Protection
Last June, Special Counsel Henry Kerner referred the whistleblower’s allegations to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who tapped the CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility to look into the matter.
The office in May 2023 confirmed that 81 of 97 light helicopters were operating without crash-resistant fuel tanks and Blanchard tried to remove facts and information about the process of hiring new pilots from his division’s last accident report, after telling Adams in an email the details were a “litigation hazard .”
Crash-resistant fuel tanks have been required of all CBP light enforcement helicopters since 2006 to reduce the possibility of fire following a crash.
Special Counsel Henry Kerner approached CBP in August asking whether the report’s findings would prompt 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 standards, as 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 prompt disciplinary action by the agency and whether it intended to modify any crash-resistant fuel tanks in the future.
On Sept. 18, Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller responded in a letter that the report would be forwarded to an internal Disciplinary Review Board for consideration, noting that Blanchard was scheduled to retire at the end of the month, according to a copy obtained by the Post.
“CBP has decided not to modify the current fleet,” the letter also states, but “has chosen to retire and replace a fleet that has no accident value. [sic] fuel tank.”
The letter did not mention changes to the policies surrounding flight schools.
In a separate letter to the White House in July laying out the details of his case, Adams also insisted that other CBP officers who knew the cause of the accident had been allowed to quietly retire before any disciplinary action was taken, 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, a response to which is expected on November 20.
The Post has reached out to CBP and the Office of Special Counsel for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
