Emergency Service
FAA Responds To GUARDIAN After 4 Years
October 9, 2020 
Friday’s mail brought a nice padded manila envelope from
MURPHY M. HO CHEE
FAA Northwest Mountain Regional Office
ATO WESTERN SERVICE CENTER
DesMoines, WA
Inside we found a CD and a two page letter from ANGELA R. McCullough, Vice President Mission Support Services.
The subject of the letter was a Freedom of Information request made by the GUARDIAN — almost FOUR YEARS AGO! It was in regards to the “non-response” of air traffic controllers at the Boise airport control tower Nov. 19, 2016.
Coppers and firefighters in a panic responded to the tower at 3 a.m. after aircraft pilots were ignored during attempted landings.
In the letter dated October 2, 2020 which discussed the 2016 incident, the FAA redacted 56 of 313 email message between investigators and supervisors. They claimed, “if this material were released, it would likely stifle honest and frank communication between agency personnel.”
Much of the redacted content was obviously over concerns of employee unions, attorneys, and how to obtain police reports. Our conclusion was the incident caused a lot of angst at the Fed agency and provided jobs for at least a dozen bureaucrats.
The Original JOINT INVESTIGATION POST.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Oct 10, 2020, 9:00 am
I got the opportunity to take a guided tour of that tower, with a group of Boy Scouts, just before the construction company turned it over to the FAA. There’s a fantastic view from up there!
(I don’t know, but I bet access by common folk is somewhere between difficult and impossible nowadays.)
– “Dark Side of the Moon” on the earbuds
– hot pizza
– fantastic view @ 3am
– FAR OUT, maaannnnn….
Oct 10, 2020, 10:52 am
“if this material were released, it would likely stifle honest and frank communication between agency personnel.”
I do not believe that is a legitimate reason to withhold information from the public under FOIA.
Oct 10, 2020, 12:00 pm
While I like Dark Side of he Moon, I think they were probably listening to All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. I mean the title alone is more fitting even if the lyrics don’t match the job.