MIA ATC ODs on HEROIN in the control tower/Penthouse 5/95 article
cli...@cari.net
My name is James Bergquist, former FAA ATC.
I have posted this letter on the Valujet 592 Memorial website at
http://www.flight592.com/Flight592Discussion-Current/_disc5/00000137.htm
I also sent this to the ranking Dem. and Rep. of the Senate Commerce
Committee (Senator John McCain & Senator Ernest Hollings) and the
Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs (Senator John Glenn & Senator
Fred Thompson).
I also sent a similar letter to Congressman Duncan, Chairman of the
Congressional Aviation Subcommittee.
Dear Sen. Mack:
My name is James A. Bergquist, former FAA air traffic controller and a
member of CRASH (Coalition Revealing the Aviation Safety Hoax).
For the past ten years, I have written to the Aviation Subcommittee of
Congress, the Bush and Clinton Administrations, and the press about my
first hand knowledge of on the job drugusage by FAA air traffic
controllers. I also informed them about advance warning of "random"
drug testing and falsification of FAA attendance records. Now all of
these allegations have come to light in the Miami area.
I am requesting that you contact the Congressional Aviation
Subcommittee of Congress and call for an investigation into FAA air
traffic controller druguse and the possible link to the Valujet flight
592 disaster. We also want to testify to the subcommittee about the
NTSB’s investigation of the Valujet accident.
Please look at the WPLG-TV (ABC) Miami website at
www.wplg.com/eyeteam.html. There you will read the following article.
TROUBLE IN THE TOWER
[Producer/CATHY O'TOOLE]
EYEWITNESS NEWS HAS LEARNED A THIRD HIGH RANKING FAA MANAGER IS UNDER
INVESTIGATION AFTER AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER WAS FOUND USING HEROIN
IN THE MIAMI TOWER.
THE EYE TEAM BROKE THE "DRUGS IN THE TOWER" SCANDAL AND AS RAD BERKY
TELLS US, IT IS SPREADING. RAD.
[Rad Berky/EYE TEAM] THIS TIME IT IS THE MANAGER OF THE CONTROL TOWER
AT THE FORT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. INVESTIGATORS
WANT TO KNOW IF PASSENGER'S LIVES WERE AT RISK.. BECAUSE OF WHAT THIS
MAN KNEW.. AND WHAT HE MIGHT HAVE TOLD OTHERS.
[SOT]
WE FOUND RON BOYD NOW WORKING AT THE CONTROL TOWER OF THE PALM BEACH
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. HE HAS BEEN RE-ASSIGNED THERE WHILE HE IS BEING
INVESTIGATED BY THE FAA. BEFORE THE SUDDEN MOVE TO THE PALM BEACH
TOWER, BOYD WAS THE TOP MANAGER IN THE TOWER AT THE FORT LAUDERDALE
HOLLYWOOD AIRPORT.
FAA INVESTIGATORS WANT TO KNOW IF BOYD GOT ADVANCE WORD OF SUPPOSEDLY
RANDOM FAA DRUG TESTS AND THEN LEAKED WORD OF THE TESTS TO CONTROLLERS
IN THE FORT LAUDERDALE TOWER.
[RAD TO RON] "Mr. Boyd, I'm Rad Berky from Channel 10. Mr. Boyd, can I
just ask you a question about the FAA investigation?"
THE INVESTIGATION BOYD DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT STARTED WHEN JOSEPH
HACKETT, A CONTROLLER AT THE MIAMI INTERNATIONAL TOWER, WAS FOUND
PASSED OUT IN A BATHROOM OF THE TOWER FROM WHAT THE EYE TEAM LEARNED
WAS HEROIN.
HACKETT WOULD NOT TALK TO THE EYE TEAM AND IS BEING FIRED BY THE FAA.
THE TOP MANAGER RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL MAJOR AIPORT TOWERS IN SOUTH
FLORIDA AND HIS ASSISTANT WERE REMOVED AFTER FAA INVESTIGTORS FOUND
THEY HAD TIPPED OFF SOMEONE IN THE MIAMI TOWER.
THE TIP: ADVANCE WARNING OF SUPPOSEDLY RANDOM DRUG TESTS.
THE SAME TIP, INVESTIGATORS SUSPECT, RON BOYD MIGHT HAVE BEEN GETTING
AND SPREADING AT THE FORT LAUDERDALE TOWER.
[Ron Boyd/TOWER MANAGER] "Please this is un-fair." "Can you...?" "This
is inappropriate and you know this is not right." "You are under
investigation by the FAA. I think I have to ask a question." (BOWS
HEAD) "Please, don't ask me these questions."
AN FAA SPOKESPERSON SAYS BOYD has been temporarily reassigned pending
the outcome of an investigation into allegations similar to those
recently investigated at the Miami tower."
IN A SPECIAL REPORT LAST WEEK THIS FORMER CONTROLLER TOLD THE EYE TEAM
HE USED MARIJUANA OFF DUTY, SAW CO-WORKERS REGULARLY USE DRUGS
ON-DUTY, AND THAT GETTING TIPPED-OFF BEFORE DRUG TESTS WAS A MATTER OF
COURSE.
SO FAR, JOSEPH HACKET IS THE ONLY CONTROLLER CONNECTED TO THIS
SCANDAL, KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN USING DRUGS.
BUT THE INVESTIGATION OF BOYD BRINGS TO THREE THE NUMBER OF MANAGERS
AT TWO AIRPORTS WHO ALLEGEDLY RISKED THEIR CAREERS TIPPING-OFF SOMEONE
IN THE TOWER ABOUT DRUG TESTS.
BEGGING THE QUESTION: ARE THERE CONTROLLERS IN THE TOWERS NOW, GUIDING
PLANES FILLED WITH PEOPLE, WHO NEEDED TO BE TIPPED OFF?
SINCE OUR REPORT LAST WEEK SEVERAL CONTROLLERS HAVE CONTACTED US
SAYING THEY TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR WORK AND DON'T DO DRUGS.
THE FAA SAYS THE INVESTIGATION AT THE FORT LAUDERDALE TOWER IS
CONTINUING AND THEY COULD NOT COMMENT ON WETHER ANY OTHER CONTROLLERS
ARE SUSPECTED OF USING DRUGS. KRISTI?
AND TONIGHT, THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
ASSOCIATION FAXED US THIS RESPONSE TO RAD'S INVESTIGATION:
MICHAEL MCNALLY SAYS THAT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS "DESERVE TO BE
SUPPORTED AND NOT HARASSED...."
HE SUGGESTS WE FOCUS ON OBSTACLES SUCH AS:
INSUFFICIENT STAFF TO HANDLE MIAMI'S GROWING AIR TRAFFIC...
UNRELIEABLE EQUIPMENT...ASBESTOS... AND OTHER MICROBIOLOGICAL
COMTAMINATION.
_________________________________________________________________
AIR TOWER DRUGS BlueGradient.gif (1695 bytes)
EVERY TIME YOU BOARD A PLANE... YOU PUT YOUR LIFE IN SOMEONE ELSE'S
HANDS.
BUT HOW QUICKLY WOULD YOU MAKE THAT DECISION IF YOU THOUGHT THE AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLER IN THE TOWER WAS ON DRUGS... ANYTHING FROM ALCHOHOL
TO HEROIN?
IMPOSSIBLE YOU SAY?
EVEN THE EYE TEAM THOUGHT SO... AT FIRST.
HERE IS RAD BERKY.....
THEY ARE THE UN-KNOWN FACES WHO GUIDE YOUR FLIGHT.
THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE QUICK OF MIND AND COOL UNDER PRESSURE.
THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE STONED.
WE KNOW WHERE THEY WORK, BUT USUALLY NOTHING MORE ABOUT THE AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR *EVERY* MOVE MADE BY
*EVERY* PLANE LANDING AND TAKING OFF AT MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AND AT
AIRPORTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
JOSEPH HACKETT WAS ONE OF THOSE CONTROLLERS...UNTIL ONE DAY LAST MARCH
WHEN HE PASSED OUT IN THE BATHROOM OF THE TOWER AT MIA.
AS THE EYE TEAM FIRST TOLD YOU, HACKETT HAD OVER-DOSED ON HEROIN...ON
DUTY.
THE FAA CONFIRMED TO THE EYE TEAM THAT A SYRINGE WAS FOUND NEXT TO
WHERE HACKETT WAS SLUMPED OVER IN THE BATHROOM STALL.
IT WAS A DAY HACKETT WILL NOT TALK TO US ABOUT.
(RAD AT HACKET'S DOOR) "Mr Hacket?" "Yes." "I know it is a tough time
but I'd like to ask you some questions." (door slams)
THE FAA LATER CONFIRMED WHAT THE EYE TEAM KNEW.. THAT THE SUPERVISOR
WHO FOUND HACKET, WAS SUSPECTED OF TRYING TO COVER-UP BY ALTERING
HACKETT'S TIME SHEET TO SHOW HE HAD GONE HOME SICK.
AND PRESSED BY THE EYE TEAM, THE FAA IN A STUNNING ADMISSION, SAID THE
ENTIRE DRUG TESTING PROGRAM AT THE MIAMI TOWER WAS UNDER SUSPICION.
THE EYE TEAM CONFIRMED THE FAA SUSPECTS EMPLOYEES WERE GIVEN ADVANCE
WORD THAT SUPPOSEDLY RANDOM DRUG TESTS WERE ABOUT TO BE GIVEN TO
CONTROLLERS.
BUT AS BAD AS IT GOT, THE FAA MAINTAINS THAT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE
MIAMI TOWER IS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT...THAT HACKETT IS JUST ONE BAD
APPLE.
MAYBE THAT'S BECASUE THEY DIDN'T LISTEN TO ONE OF THEIR FORMER
CONTROLLERS NAMED JAMES BERGQUIST.
[(BERGQUIST] "I've seen controllers using alchohol, marijuana,
halucenagenic mushrooms, and LSD on the job. I've seen cocaine being
used off the job."
BERGQUIST HAD BEEN A CONTROLLER FOR TWO DECADES WORKING IN TOWERS IN
THE SAN DIEGO AREA.
HE BECAME HEAD OF THE LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLERS UNION WHERE HE SAYS THE NUMBER CONCERN WAS FIGHTING THE
F-A-A'S DRUG TESTING.
BERGQIST EVENTUALLY LEFT THE TOWER WHEN HE WAS RETIRED ON DISABILITY
FOR A BAD BACK.
HE ADMITS HE IS NOT A SAINT AND THAT FOR MANY YEARS, HE TOO SMOKED
MARIJUANA, BUT ONLY OFF DUTY.
AND HE SAYS 50% OF HIS CO-WORKERS WERE DOING ILLEGAL DRUGS TOO.
[BERGQUIST] "People would go out on the cat-walk to smoke dope so that
the smell wouldn't permiate in the tower." "They would go back in the
tower and work for another hour, hour-and-a-half under the influence."
OTHER CONTROLLERS, ACCORDING TO BERGUIST FAVORED WHAT WERE ONCE CALLED
"MAGIC" OR "FUNNY MUSHROOMS."
[BERGQUIST]"I saw people going to lunch and they would go to a
hamburger place. And I saw 'em bring the hamburgers back and they
would just take off the hamburger and put 'em right on the buns and
use them right in front of the chief." "Mushrooms?" "Mushrooms.
Halucenigenic mushrooms."
[RAD STANDUP] "The FAA says it won;t tolerate drug use by controllers
and has a a strong drug testing policy in place. But the story a
controller at this Northern Michigan Airport is telling the Eye Team
makes the FAA's claim ring hollow."
[VINCE PEREZ] "How anybody could expect to work traffic under
heroin...I really thought it was a joke at first."
VINCE PEREZ IS A WORKING AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER. HE WORKS THE TOWER AT
THE AIRPORT IN TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN, A RESORT COMMUNITY ON THE
NORTHERN SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN.
PEREZ SAYS HE DOESN'T USE DRUGS AND DOESN'T KNOW ANY CONTROLLERS WHO
DO...BUT WHEN HE HEARD ABOUT HEROIN IN THE MIAMI TOWER, HE KNEW HOW IT
COULD HAPPEN..
RATHER THEN TOUGHENING ITS DRUG TESTS, PEREZ SAYS THE FAA'S TESTS HAVE
BECOME ALMOST NON-EXISTANT.
[VINCE] "It used to be that years ago, we had our yearly physical and
a drug test was part of the physical. And then there were random
tests. They would come to the facility where they would suddenly show
up and people would have to go down and be tested."
BUT NO MORE.
[VINCE] "Myself, I haven't been tested in my physical in at least
three years and I believe its been four years or longer since I've had
a random test."
YES, THE FAA ADMITS, MANDATORY YEARLY DRUG TESTS WERE ELIMINATED YEARS
AGO. THE REASON: NOT EFFECTIVE BECAUSE CONTROLLERS KNEW EXACTLY WHEN
THEY WERE GOING TO BE TESTED.
AND IS IT POSSIBLE A CONTROLLER COULD GO 3 OR 4 YEARS AND NOT BE
RANDOMLY TESTED?
**NAT SOT**
THE FAA'S DRUG PROGRAM CO-ORDINATOR, ROGER BLOCKER, TOLD ME ITS
ENTIRELY POSSIBLE A CONTROLLER COULD WORK HIS WHOLE CAREER AND NEVER
BE TESTED.
JAMES BERGQUIST SAYS THERE WAS A SIMPLE REASON WHY HE COULD SMOKE
MARIJUANA AND NOT GET CAUGHT IN A DRUG TEST.
[JAMES BERGQUIST] "We were tipped off the day before hand." "Wait a
minute these are supposed to be random tests, but you were tipped
off?" "Yes, and as a matter of fact the person who told us about it
was the guy that was dealing the drugs."
THE FAA'S ROGER BLOCKER FIRST TOLD ME A TOWER ONLY GETS AN HOUR'S
NOTICE OF A RANDOM TEST, BUT LATER ADMITTED THE TOWER SUPERVISOR COULD
GET WORD AS EARLY AS THE DAY BEFORE. TIME ENOUGH, IF WORD WAS LEAKED,
FOR CONTROLLERS TO CALL IN SICK.
**NAT SOT**
WALKING PAST TRAVELERS WHOSE PLANES WILL SOON BE IN THE HANDS OF MANY
DEDICATED, RESPONSIBLE CONTROLLERS.. JAMES BERGQUIST WORRIES ABOUT THE
OTHER CONTROLLERS.. THE ONES WHO PUT LIVES AT RISK FOR A HIGH.
[BERGQUIST] "When you have controllers working under the influence of
drugs, then the accident is going to happen...it is just a matter of
when."
THE FAA SAYS THERE'S NO DRUG PROBLEM IN THE NATION'S CONTROL TOWERS.
BUT JUST A FEW HOURS AGO, KNOWING THIS STORY WAS GOING TO AIR
TONIGHT.. THE F-A-A CALLED TO TELL US THE INVESTIGATION OF THE HEROIN
OVERDOSE AT MIAMI'S TOWER IS OVER.
THE F-A-A CONCLUDED THAT TWO SUPERVISORS WERE IN FACT GIVING EMPLOYEES
ADVANCED WARNING OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RANDOM DRUG TESTS.
THOSE SUPERVISORS HAVE BEEN DEMOTED AND RE-ASSIGNED.. BUT REMAIN AS
PAID EMPLOYEES OF THE F-A-A.
_________________________________________________________________
The Eye team is always looking for new leads. If you have an idea for
a story, contact us at Eye...@WPLG.com
© 1998 Post-Newsweek Stations of Florida, Inc. Contact the Webmaster
I have found that the FAA issued Mr. Joseph Hackett an airline pilot's
license.
Name : HACKETT, JOSEPH P
Pilot's Address : 3530 NW 121ST AVE
SUNRISE, FL, 33323-3302
Date of Medical : Nov, 1996
Class of Medical : 2
Pilot Certificates : Airline Transport Pilot
Control Tower Operator
Ratings : Single Engine Land/Multi-Engine Land
FAA Region : Southern
I'll bet the FAA did not even pull Hackett's pilot's license.
Wouldn't it be something if he was still using heroin and flying for a
living now.
The FAA managed to keep this incident under wraps for almost two
months. Two supervisors were reasigned to desk jobs because they
tried to cover the matter up by falsifying the controller's attendance
record to show that he was off duty at the time of the overdose.
This is what I have said in the past. The falsification of attendance
records are not the exception, but the rule. I saw this on a daily
basis for the many years that I was with the FAA. It's called the
"early shove" Everybody goes home 90-120 minutes early and the
remaining controller later enters the time when everyone was supposed
to leave. If there is an accident or incident at the airport, the log
instead shows everyone went home early. You will see this on FAA and
NTSB accident/incident reports. The statistics will show that a
larger number of controllers take vacation time or sick leave an hour
or so before an accident or incident. This falsification of government
attendance records is a felony. Control towers are dangerously
undermanned all over the country on a daily basis.
I have told the press, my Congressional representatives, and the
Whitehouse that we were tipped off in advance about "random" drug
testing. A controller who is using drugs simply trades shifts with a
non-using controller. I used marijuana for over 15 years as an Air
Force and FAA controller and never got caught. I never even heard of
anyone getting caught. I saw over 50% of my co-workers using drugs
both off-duty and at some of the busiest control towers and radar
approach controls all over the country. They used to smoke pot on the
catwalk outside the tower so they could still hear the planes calling
in and so the cleaning people would not smell anything when they came
up after the tower closed for the night.
I made tapes of telephone conversations with co-workers who confirm
knowledge of alcohol and drug use on the job and were not willing to
speak out after they saw what happened when I came forward.
Previously, I saw others come forward with the same complaints and
were told not to rock the boat.
I had a plane crash on me and my drucken trainer chewed me out for
getting the crash equipment rolling without checking with her. She
was unaware of the unfolding emergency for some 30 seconds as the
plane went down because she was in a drunken stupor. When another
controller and I went to management about her coming to work drunk at
least once a week, we were told to mind our own business. She was so
bold that she would visit with the tower chief in his office before
coming upstairs with booze on her breath.
The last straw came when the other guy who complained with me about
the female controller began drinking on the job at 7:30 AM and offered
the excuse of "Screw it, they don't test for alcohol". I immediately
signed off the log and left the tower. Days later I told him that he
had to apologize to his crew because they would have to lie about his
condition if he had an accident. When he refused, I again went to
management and within four hours was given 6 months leave without pay.
I have a tape of the FBI telling me that drugusage on the job in a
control tower is a "civil matter". This is after I talked with the FBI
at their San Diego Field Office on two occasions and they refused to
do anything about any of my allegations.
My life have been threatened as a result of my speaking out. When I
contacted the FBI for a third time about the bombthreat I received,
they refused to investigate. I sent a letter to Mr. Louis Freeh, the
FBI director, well over a year ago asking him to have his agents at
the San Diego Field Office contact me and to investigate the
bombthreat, FAA ATC druguse, and my allegations of FAA, DOT IG, and
NTSB corruption and I have heard nothing. You can read this letter to
the FBI Director Freeh titled "Open Letter To The FBI re:
TW800/VJ592/BOMBTREAT" in the Valujet flight 592 memorial discussion
group at:
http://www.flight592.com/Flight592Discussion-Current/_disc5/000000cb.htm
In that letter, you can see that I sent a copy of the letter to
President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, the Whitehouse
Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, members of the House
Aviation Subcommittee, the press, and the families of the victims of
TW800 and Valujet flight 592. I have heard nothing from any of them.
In May of 1995, Penthouse magazine published the following article
about
FAA druguse.
USA Confidential
by Sharon Churcher
FLYING HIGH?
A former California air traffic controller is crusading that some
aviation workers are taking advantage of an astonishing loophole in
federal drug-testing regulations-one that allows them to use L.S.D.and
some other hallucinogens as much s they want.
James Bergquist has written to dozens of politicians, including Bill
Clinton, about his allegations. He explained to "U.S.A. Confidential"
that when random drug checks were introduced in 1987 for controllers
and other aviation workers in safety-related jobs, word rapidly spread
that the government had chosen a test that only detects marijuana,
cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and P.C.P.
A Department of Transportation physician confirmed that the test is
not effective for L.S.D. or "magic mushrooms." Testing for these
hallucinogens is difficult and very costly, this doctor told us. And
while such tests are used in the military, they are unnecessary, he
insisted, for aviation workers because of the type of people attracted
to white-collar government jobs. When you are dealing with federal
employees, L.S.D. is not a problem." he elaborated. Doubtlessly
anticipating hoots of merriment from the stoned congressmen,
bureaucrats, and the like who litter the Washington party circuit, he
declined to have his name used.
Bergquist, who admits he has smoked pot off-duty for years, claims
that after the test program began, many of the workers he met while
traveling to various airports as a union recruiter simply switched
drugs. Previously, he says, marijuana use was rampant among
controllers and other key staff members in their time off, meal
breaks, and occasionally on the job. "After random drug testing was
implimented, I saw a great decrease in the use of marijuana," he says,
"but hallucinogenic mushrooms and L.S.D. became the drugs of choice. I
even saw people putting mushrooms on their hamburgers at lunch, and
popping them while they were working."
Bergquist claims he was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle
on a Federal Avaition Administration employee, and, indeed, F.A.A.
documents show he was placed on involuntary unpaid leave four hours
after first complaining about the employee, and that he was terminated
eight months later. The F.A.A. claims it was planning to get rid of
him anyway, because he was taking medication for a back injury that
made him unfit for work. It denied all of his allegations-even though,
according to the documents, they have never been fully investigated.
A friend of Bergquist's who volunteered to testify to the F.A.A.'s
parent Department of Transportation that she had seen drugs being used
off-duty by controllers says she has never even been contacted by the
agency.
Bergquist's repeated pleas, first to George Bush and now to Clinton,
for a thorough probe have been brushed off with form letters. And if
that makes you even more nervous about the safety of America's skies
than you were before you read this story, just wait until you hear
this one: the Clinton administration recently gave the F.A.A. the
go-ahead to halve the number of employees annually tested for drugs.
Large-scale testing isn't needed because "less than one percent of the
employees tested positive for drugs during the last two years." the
Deparment of Transportation says in a press handout. Naturally, the
statement makes no mention of the fact that the tests would not detect
L.S.D. and those mystical mushrooms garnishes even if 100 percent of
the subjects had been using them.