Airline Pilot Forums

Does anyone have any experience with Great Lakes Region, Indianapolis - FSDO-11 Inspectors Ricky Daniel or Michael Laurenzano?

Mr. Daniel is Frontier’s POI, both he and Mr. Laurenzano seem to “march to a different drummer” and lay awake at night trying to figure out how to violate pilots over absolutely nothing. Or even worse, for doing the exactly correct thing.

It is my understanding that Mr. Laurenzano was assigned to another airline’s certificate and was removed from that position.

Does anyone know if it helps to write the Manager of the Flight Standards Division that oversees the Region or not?

Or is it best to go through the Company or an Attorney?

Thanks in advance for any input you might have.

My personal experience is to escalate it to their managers helps. If it doesn't work then you need to go to the regional level. If enough people complain about it, then you will have some success getting these vindictive types removed from your cert.

I would recommend contacting your House representative. Their website should have a link for "help with a federal agency". Good luck!

Does anyone have any experience with Great Lakes Region, Indianapolis - FSDO-11 Inspectors Ricky Daniel or Michael Laurenzano?

Mr. Daniel is Frontier’s POI, both he and Mr. Laurenzano seem to “march to a different drummer” and lay awake at night trying to figure out how to violate pilots over absolutely nothing. Or even worse, for doing the exactly correct thing.

It is my understanding that Mr. Laurenzano was assigned to another airline’s certificate and was removed from that position.

Does anyone know if it helps to write the Manager of the Flight Standards Division that oversees the Region or not?

Or is it best to go through the Company or an Attorney?

Thanks in advance for any input you might have.

If you are in a bad situation you need to lawyer up. Get a good one, spend the money. Easy to say, I know, but this is the only reliable approach. Remember that a lawyer works for whoever is paying the bills, and if that is not you then he is not representing you. So do not trust a company lawyer. (That also applies to union lawyers.)

In my experiance the Feds who are trying to make a name by scalping pilots wilt when confronted with a serious lawyer.

Mike L. was the POI at ATA Airlines for awhile. I believe he was removed from that position for cause. His reputation was similar to what you describe by distributing pink slips to crews who were following company procedures to the letter.

It's amazing how long these guys hang around.

Good luck on setting things right.

Blue

ML is a steam gauge guy, he knows nothing about modern aircraft and has a history of failing his FSI sims rides to be an inspector. He does not understand the airplane so he is "manual updated and flashlight" nazi.

Get the book "Violation" by former DPE (number 1 in the country at one point) and Flying magazine columnist Howard Fried. The Detroit FSDO went after him on a witch hunt. Howard's also an attorney so you get the legal perspective. Required reading for anyone facing enforcement action or the like. Exposes the dirty laundry on the government side.

ALPA Legal is the way to go. I dealt with them once, and we didn't even do anything wrong. Controller error. Call ALPA.

Indy FSDO is THE worst in the country. Welcome to hell.

They have been torturing CHQ, RW, and S5 forever. All they care about is how many pink slips or violations they can hand out.

Indy FSDO is THE worst in the country. Welcome to hell.
They have been torturing CHQ, RW, and S5 forever. All they care about is how many pink slips or violations they can hand out.

98% of line pilots I come across are great guys. What happens to people like that who form such a vendetta? Why such hatred for fellow pilots?

Unfortunately, some POIs carry an "agenda" as their primary goal. Irrespective of actual facts in a particular case, data is sometimes collated to support a skewed conclusion.

98% of line pilots I come across are great guys. What happens to people like that who form such a vendetta? Why such hatred for fellow pilots?

For some of them, their aviation careers haven't turn out as they had planned (does it for anyone?), so they seem to be hell bent on making sure nobody else's goes smoothly either.

Thank you all for your input and background.

I'd still love to hear any other stories out there about Ricky Daniel and Michael Laurenzano, if anyone has experience with them.

I am not under investigation, but they are going after our pilots so viciously and vigorously, I'm trying to build a bit of a knowledge base on their past activities.

I also looked for Howard Fried's book, "Violation" but could only find copies around $50-60. Anyone have one they want to sell? :)

I also looked for Howard Fried's book, "Violation" but could only find copies around $50-60. Anyone have one they want to sell? :)

$19 at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=violation+howard+fried

I'd sell you mine but he personalized and autographed it for me. And NO, I was not being violated!

$19 at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=violation+howard+fried

I'd sell you mine but he personalized and autographed it for me. And NO, I was not being violated!

Thanks, I just ordered it.

$19 at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=violation+howard+fried

I'd sell you mine but he personalized and autographed it for me. And NO, I was not being violated!

That's what she said!

Seriously though, I do remember hearing less than flattering things about ML during my tenure at ATA. Hopefully you can help out a few people.

Do you guys and gals know of anyone that was in Management at ATA (or pilots) that I might contact (or who would be willing to contact me) confidentially to find out what exactly Laurenzano's primary problem is and how they dealt with him or caused him to be removed from the ATA certificate?

And, so far, no Ricky Daniel stories?

Thank you.

I knew a RD at Champion Air, who when I first got there he was an A&P, and then scored a First Officer seat. I think he checked out as a Captain before the shutdown and it seems I recalled someone telling me he got hired by the Feds. He seems like a nice guy on the surface, but he is definetly a "Free Agent". I found out thru a friend in Management he had a nasty habit of calling the office on Captains he had flown with. I also he was very weak on a good day. What happens on the line, stays on the line. Of course, I was raised by Braniff, Pan Am, Midway, and Eastern Captains that understood proper Line Pilot behavior.

Also someone posted to "get your own lawyer" absolutely damn right. The ALPA attorneys we had at Champion were more concerned with "losing small, rather than winning large", ie a Captain would get clipped everytime, especially those of us based south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Of course, considering they were out busy drinking beer with Management and playing on the Company softball team, what could be expected. Also the ALPA LEC were very Junior CA's and FO's so it was in their interests not to care about the Senior Pilots.

What kind of stuff are we talking. Altitude deviations, lateral deviations, or violations for more serious stuff? It was my understanding that most minor bumps in the road would be ASAP'd and forgotten or a letter of warning if it was a pretty sizeable bump. I only thought violations got tossed around when there was a serious FUBAR moment. Please correct me.

It's a whole range of insanity.

A small set of examples are:

"Ricky" Daniels stormed an aircraft with 3 other inspectors hoping to find a violation of F9's fueling policy at an off-line airport. The Feds didn't identify themselves and acted like jack-booted thugs, actually removing the logbook when no one was looking.

They hadn't taken on any fuel, so instead he violated the crew for having jumpseaters on a reposition flight. He said, "All of F9's flights are part 121."

Laurenzano is trying to violate a crew that broke off an approach at 2,000' AGL to address a Master Warning (ECAM). The warning went away, the aircraft landed normally and safely.

Laurenzano has been down in Cabo and the Dominican Republic studying Class II nav paperwork like it's a new book of the bible or a treasure map.

The list just goes on and on and they're shooting down ASAP's like it's a friggin skeet shooting contest.

They just want to violate as many real pilots as possible, no matter how trivial the event or even when they are obviously wrong.

It's not personal, I have had no experience with them, but they are rapidly becoming famous.

They are both just the worst type of Feds possible. I wish Babbitt was still running the FAA.

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