FAA whistleblower: Manager threatened job, family

David Edwards and Eric Mayes

Published: Thursday April 3, 2008



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FAA whistle blower Douglas Peters told a House committee Thursday that his boss threatened his job and his family if he turned in a report on unethical behavior by FAA employees.

Peters, an FAA aviation safety inspector, became emotional as he recounted to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee how the acting manager of the FAA office charged with overseeing the agency, had allegedly picked up a framed picture of Peters' family while issuing the threat.

"'You have a good job here and your wife has a good job over at the Dallas [FAA flight standards office]. I'd hate to see you jeopardize yours and her careers trying to take down a couple of losers,'" Peters said he was told by Bobby Hedlund, the Acting Manager of FAA's Southwest Certificate Management Office.

Peters said this ensued after he had told Hedlund that he just wanted to do the right thing.

"We should always do the right thing," Hedlund reportedly replied, just before the alleged threat.

Peters and Charalambe Bobby Boutris, another inspector who was part of FAA's Southwest Airlines team in 2007, said they believe officials in FAA headquarters also deliberately looked the other way with respect to their reports of record- keeping and safety violations at Southwest.

This video is from CNN.com, broadcast April 3, 2008.



