Drug Tests on Air Controllers May Be Completed by Weekend
The process of analyzing urine samples from 34 air traffic controllers and five other employees at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Center in Palmdale is expected to be completed by the end of the week, allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to begin making decisions on whether to discipline them, FAA officials said Monday.
The FAA announced Friday that the controllers--about one-fifth of the 156 who work at the Palmdale center--had been taken off their radar screens and assigned to “administrative duties” because of unspecified allegations that they used cocaine and hashish during off-duty hours.
The agency said Monday that five other employees have also been reassigned and are being questioned.
One of those employees is Karen McIntosh, secretary to the Palmdale facility’s manager, Don Early. It was McIntosh’s arrest July 8 that triggered the investigation, according to sources close to the probe.
Sheriff’s deputies searched the Palmdale home of McIntosh, 27, and her husband, Steve, 30, after being told by an unidentified informant about alleged drug sales there.
The search netted small amounts of cocaine and hashish along with unspecified “paper work,” according to documents filed in Lancaster Municipal Court. The McIntoshes were subsequently charged with drug possession and are awaiting trial.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the paper work at the McIntosh home contained names of other controllers. That led FAA investigators to focus on an April 17 party in Palmdale that was attended by the McIntoshes and about two dozen of the controllers.
Several controllers who were reassigned last week have said FAA investigators have focused their questions on the party and whether drug use occurred.
If the drug tests are positive, the controllers and other employees will face penalties ranging from being placed in rehabilitation programs to dismissal.
The Palmdale center is one of 22 FAA regional centers. It is responsible for guiding all airplanes in and out of dozens of Southern California airports once they leave the jurisdiction of local airport control towers.
