Broken Wings

Blowing the whistle on outrageous moral and ethical misbehavior by employees of one of the federal government's biggest and most profitable contractors is serious business. But when complaints are raised by employees of that same contractor about the safety and quality of work on which American lives depend, the issue inches up a few notches to deadly serious.

While Insight expected to receive feedback concerning its Feb. 4 cover story, "DynCorp Disgrace," this magazine could not have anticipated the number of DynCorp employees who would seize the opportunity to voice alarm and express concern about what they say is their company's shaky performance on government contracts. As one employee put it, "There has been a dramatic drop in experience and competence, replaced by ignorance, inexperience and downright unsafe maintenance practices."

Surprisingly, rather than responding to allegations made by Ben Johnston, a former DynCorp employee who blew the whistle on fellow employees he accused of being involved in sex trafficking of young girls in Bosnia, and which was the focus of the "DynCorp Disgrace" article, most of the communications from current and former DynCorp employees addressed his briefly expressed concern about the quality of work being performed by DynCorp on military aircraft.

One issue Johnston raised involved a DynCorp maintenance technician in Bosnia who, according to Johnston, "weighed 400 pounds and would stick cheeseburgers in his pockets and eat them while he worked. The problem was he literally would fall asleep every five minutes. One time he fell asleep with a torch in his hand and burned a hole through the plastic on an aircraft."

This description would seem almost comical if were it not for the fact that the technician's work might make the difference between whether an American pilot lives or dies, DynCorp employees say. Even so, it pales in comparison to other allegations about the state of DynCorp's military and civilian aircraft maintenance. Johnston brought some of these concerns to the attention of management, but DynCorp fired him after he took his complaints of sex trafficking to the U.S. military police in Bosnia.

All too aware of what happens to employees such as Johnston who break company ranks, many of those who contacted Insight agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity. But others, such as 20-year DynCorp veteran Tom Greer, were willing to go on the record for the "safety of the men and women flying the aircraft and those employees whose professional reputations are at stake."

Regardless of personal repercussions, Greer lays it on the line. "I'm angry," he says, "because this …… conduct has been going on now for several years with impunity. I and others who have left DynCorp are affected by DynCorp misrepresenting themselves and their German/international employees' qualifications to the U.S. Army, Europe and the Air Force Contracting Command at Tinker A.F.B. and Wright-Patterson A.F.B." In fact, Greer is so distressed about the safety of the aircraft for which DynCorp holds the maintenance contracts that he has taken his concerns to the highest levels of the U.S. military and also to Congress.

For instance, Greer has written to Brig. Gen. Lloyd Waterman, deputy commander for logistics, U.S. Army, Europe, explaining that "DynCorp is grossly misleading you [and] other U.S. government employees, and misrepresenting themselves by alluding to the fact that their German and American employees working under the German system are equally qualified and possess the same skills, training and experience as myself and other equally qualified technicians that are employed by their competitors. DynCorp has currently employed at its Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany, Army airfield and other locations within Germany, individuals who have little, if any, aviation experience on the type of U.S. Army tactical aircraft they are performing unit intermediate-level maintenance on. Some of these DynCorp employees are prior security guards, cooks, waiters, store clerks and cashiers."

Greer continued: "I am concerned that untrained personnel are being allowed to perform maintenance on highly technical weapons systems, [aircraft] that our servicemen and women operate. Our military deserves the highest quality of professionals performing maintenance on these high-dollar aviation assets. Please notify the proper authorities within the Department of Defense of the problems and safety issues that could result from DynCorp or any other contractor hiring unqualified individuals and do what you can to assure the safety of our brave men and women."

Greer is not alone in his claims about improper maintenance endangering the safety of aircraft. A DynCorp employee who asks not to be identified also contacted Waterman concerning many of the same issues. "To put it bluntly, sir, I'm scared. Scared every time I turn on the television and hear that a crash happened or read about it in the Stars and Stripes. For that matter, every time they start an aircraft up here at Coleman Barracks. The day-to-day witnessing of such low standards in aviation maintenance is taking its toll on my personal professionalism."

The source continued: "We're told that these new people were to be helpers and workers and not technicians. This is not the case. They are being treated as qualified people and signing off on work that they are not experienced in. …… Would you believe I'm working beside ex-security guys, waitresses and car repairmen? We have people who are working on aircraft with absolutely no aviation experience nor ground-equipment skills. Would you rather fly in a helicopter maintained by a waitress or an experienced aviation technician?"

According to this DynCorp employee: "It is my opinion that this is an accident waiting to happen and something should be done, and soon, before loss of life or extreme damage to equipment is experienced. The management here is looking at the bottom line, and they surely do not seem to care what kind of person works on the helicopters. I guess that makes good business sense, but to me not at the cost of our servicemen and women. I'm forwarding this to you through another as I don't want to be identified. DynCorp fires people who write down on paper problems they think should be kept in-house."

From the beginning of the military action in Afghanistan aircraft were being lost in crashes unrelated to enemy action. Asked if it is possible that any of those crashes might have resulted from faulty maintenance or technician error by DynCorp personnel, a whistle-blower tells Insight, "I think the aircraft ---- MH models that the Special Forces use ---- came from the 160th at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Hunter in Savannah, Ga. DynCorp has the maintenance contract at both of those places. So yes, I'd have to say DynCorp worked on those aircraft."

Asked the same question, Greer tells Insight: "I believe it would be safe to say any aircraft that have crashed on which faulty maintenance has been found to be a cause or contributor to that crash, and where the crashed aircraft was assigned to the European theater of operations between September 1999 and today, has, in fact, been worked on by DynCorp's unqualified personnel."

Johnston, who filed a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) lawsuit against DynCorp for alleged wrongful termination, tells Insight he's pleased other employees are expressing alarm but says, "I don't think it should take a magazine article to get these guys to come forward. If something is wrong in their own backyard they ought to come forward immediately, especially when it's dealing with the U.S. government."

Johnston isn't surprised by the new accusations. He says "about 75 percent of the [DynCorp] technicians in Bosnia easily could have been replaced by military personnel. These guys just didn't have the expertise that the other 25 percent of us contract technicians had. I think there were about three or four guys there that actually had a license to work on aircraft. Out of about 40 employees, there were maybe a handful that I knew of who had proper federal A&P [airframe and power-plant] licensing to work on these aircraft."

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 ongoing 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.

The information provided to Insight by these current and former DynCorp and State Department sources clearly are assessments of what they have witnessed and believe to be true. Sometimes, these whistle-blowers sent along documentation indicating that the concerns raised were brought to the attention of DynCorp management without results. But DynCorp apparently takes action once the information has been made public.

However, according to DynCorp sources in Europe, just after the "DynCorp Disgrace" article ran in February, the International Police Task Force (IPTF) conducted an investigation into Johnston's allegations of sex trafficking by DynCorp employees. According to the source who informed Insight about the reported investigation, "This is one for the books. The IPTF is contracted by DynCorp, and the employees performing illegal acts in Bosnia are both IPTF personnel and aircraft mechanics that are hired by DynCorp. What's wrong with this picture?"

In other words, says the source, DynCorp is investigating itself. Whether there is anything wrong with the picture is a decision for federal agencies and congressional committees with oversight responsibility for these government contracts. What is certain is that current and former DynCorp employees all over the world are expressing concern about the safety of the men and women who fly the aircraft being maintained by this contractor.

DynCorp did not respond to specific questions forwarded in writing to its Reston, Va., headquarters about the issues raised in this article. However, Charlene Wheeless, a DynCorp spokeswoman, did provide the following statement: "DynCorp has provided aviation and aerospace services to government agencies for more than 40 years. We have received customer commendations for our superior service and we believe our positive performance speaks for itself."

The military, however, is taking heed of the concerns raised and a spokesman for Gen. Waterman tells Insight, "Present and former DynCorp employees have made allegations about DynCorp's hiring practices and contract performance on its aviation maintenance contract. The command takes seriously any indication of potential issues with the safety of aircraft and soldiers. Based on the letters and e-mails received, U.S. Army, Europe's 21st Theater Support Command, as the command with oversight of the aviation maintenance contract, initiated an investigation into these allegations. Since the investigation is ongoing, it is inappropriate to comment on any specific allegation. We will take appropriate action upon completion of the investigation."

- Kelly Patricia O'Meara is an investigative reporter for Insight magazine.

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