Via a letter from Subodh Chandra today, Abdul-Malik Ali, the former airfield maintenance manager at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, has alerted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) to serious safety violations at the airport. The letter states that the violations stem from unqualified staffing at the airport.

The violations caused runways, ramps, and taxiways to be shut down and flights to be diverted, and Mr. Ali believes, represent an ongoing threat to the traveling public.

The letter and exhibits are here:

2017-01-18 Chandra letter to FAA officials and Abernathy at OSHA with exhibits attached.pdf

In early 2015, former Hopkins airport director Ricky Smith demoted Mr. Ali after Mr. Ali alerted the FAA to similarly serious violations. The FAA then sent Mr. Ali a letter reporting that it found Mr. Ali's concerns to be "substantiated." Mr. Ali has been stripped of his supervisory responsibilities and consigned to a mop closet, assigned to walk around the airport and count the levels of trash in dumpsters for a daily log.

Mr. Ali's complaint for retaliation remains pending with OSHA.