Very interesting Mr. Burke, the FAA is going to latch onto Avantair now that this information has become public.
If you read the linked article, the elevator loss occurred in July. They've been under investigation since then. They've also been under investigation on previous occasions, too.
In the case I previously recounted, the FAA called me following discovery of electrical tape placed to make an annunciator appear out, when it was actually illuminated. The FAA discovered that the MEL signoff was for the wrong item, and was falsified, and that some 30 revenue legs had been flown with passengers. The DO at the time, who was unqualified and was a relative of Santo's, stepped down after coming unglued in the ensuing pressure, and others also lost their jobs.
I was threatened on many occasions by company personnel, including top management, and on more than a few occasions I was told to surrender any paperwork I had, or notes I had taken. When I made notes of squawks and brought them to maintenance, to fill out squawk sheets after landing, I was asked what I intended to do with the notes, and was I giving them to the FAA? Nervous, neurotic lot.
I learned to make copies of my paperwork and to document everything. It was how I established that all the 17 charges were false, during their little union-busting exercise. I documented being dispatched through Hurricane Katrina (refused to go, more threats), and documented the lengthy squawk lists...I was able to compare what I submitted to their re-writes, and on several occasions forced them to revisit their maintenance to comply with what I originally wrote-up.
It was the FAA that came to me for statements. I didn't go to the FAA.