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Summary

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt released an OIG report concerning the alleged harassment of Joseph Brinell by officials of FAA's Kansas City Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). On December 9, 1999, Brinell, director of aviation for the College of the Ozarks, perished along with five others when the plane he was flying crashed. We found that between March and December 1999, FSDO’s general aviation supervisor and a principal operations inspector took a series of three enforcement-related actions against Brinell, each of which posed a threat to his livelihood in commercial aviation. In reviewing these actions, we found they were unwarranted and FSDO's justification lacked credibility. We recommended that FAA consider appropriate disciplinary and other administrative action against the FSDO supervisor and operations inspector.