Tips for reporting employer to FAA in Georgia
I’m currently an apprentice at a small maintenance shop in Georgia. We mostly work on 172s and 182s at a tiny airport. We have 6 maintenance guys, including myself and my DOM. I’ve been an apprentice for 2 years next month.
Some violations I’ve noticed while working here:
- We will half ass annual inspections. We will charge customers for annual inspections and not do the full inspection, such as totally just disregarding some of the items on our inspection checklist (wheel bearings, cable tensions).
- My supervisor is my mentor but he’s NEVER around. 99% of what I’ve learned is from videos, forums, and reading for myself. Which would normally be fine but no one is ever supervising me and then they get mad when I mess something up. I’m pretty much expected to work alone as a licensed A&P.
- The only IA in the shop will have no supervision over annual inspections. He’ll have no clue where we are at on annuals, and sometimes I’ll be doing an annual totally alone. The IA will just do a quick glance over and sign off the logbooks.
- We do the most half-assed repairs. No real tools in the shop. JB Weld is our friend, especially on leaking fuel tanks. Aluminum rivets on firewalls. Using high temp RTV as a gasket.
- We will get maintenance manuals from online forums without any clue if it’s the latest revision.
I’m only an apprentice in my early 20s but this stuff can’t be right. I know that I need to report my employer, but I’m worried about retaliation. I know they will fire me. They will know I’m the one who made the complaint to the FAA because I’m pretty much the only guy who questions this stuff. I need the health insurance from this job and the little bit of pay ($13/hour) that they pay me. Georgia is an at-will state but I’ve never been written up ever so if I got fired for making a stupid mistake after I report this stuff would I even have a legal case?