Delta Goes Back to Court!

Petitt vs. Delta 2025

With Lee Seham on my team, I have just filed another AIR21 Complaint against Delta Air Lines. What many of you don’t know is the insidious retaliation Delta continued against me after my filing the first AIR21 complaint. From the day we ended court in 2019, Delta found many ways to retaliate as I have included in my 2025 AIR21 complaint. Delta management made life unbearable. So much so, that my health failed, I lost my medical for the first time ever, and retired four years early in January 2023. Retirement was not without purpose. Retirement was a way to focus on Aviation Safety with the freedom to speak out and help other employees who are prohibited from voicing their concerns.

Airlines place a gag order on employees to silence them via social media policies. Typically these policies state, an employee cannot make their employer “look bad”. However, I challenge, that any employee who is simply telling the world what the employer did is not making the airline look bad. The employer made themselves look bad by their actions. Employees can write all the good things the company does, but when they speak of the illegal actions, or federal violations, somehow managements’ bad behavior becomes the employee’s violation not that of the company, simply because they spoke of it.

Therefore, I retired early in order to have freedom and fight for better training, regulatory enforcement, and speak of those illegal actions, on behalf of employees to keep passengers and employees everywhere safe. Last year Delta threatened to revoke my pass travel if I did not remove and return the photos from the post Aircraft Fire Unreported. I have not flown on Delta since.

This year Delta threatened a defamation lawsuit as outlined in Delta’s Effort to Silence me regarding my communications as to the Toronto crash. But I argue that Delta’s assertions had nothing to do with the Captain flowing up to Delta, because he clearly trained at Endeavor and crashed his plane. Whether he went to Delta does not matter as related to his Endeavor performance. Delta is simply being a bully to silence me as to the facts that I know to be true about the company’s safety standards. But enough is enough.

Accidents and Incidents are at

An ALL TIME HIGH

Retired Employee

But wait! I’m retired, how does this Air21 filing work if the law is for “employees”. Well, the law says that retired employees are covered too:

“Employee means an individual presently or formerly working for an air carrier or contractor or subcontractor of an air carrier, an individual applying to work for an air carrier or contractor or subcontractor of an air carrier, or an individual whose employment could be affected by an air carrier or contractor or subcontractor of an air carrier.” 29 CFR 1979.101, (Current through April 15, 2025)

If you want to learn more about the law get your AIR21 legal cookbook here! Also just released on Audible and it’s great listen!

The Power of the Public

It’s the people who create change. Not the FAA. Not the airlines. It’s your voice who is in control. Even Judge Morris refused to allow Delta to make a blanket declaration that everything was confidential

“But you all have to make a business decision if you want all this laundry out there,” Judge Morris said. Apparently Delta violated their own social media policy making their company look bad, and not listening to the judge.

Judge Morris then said, “As far as the exhibits itself, if I noticed, I will note for the record I’ve got Confidential all over the place in these documents. These are public records. I am not going to seal this stuff, unless you’ve got some compelling reason. This is information that needs to get out there about how this process has done with these documents. So, you can ask, but this is a public hearing.” (May 1, 2019)

AIR21 is a public trial for a reason. Even the Judge ordered Delta to post his ruling so everyone would know what happened. Therefore, I intend on making this entire process public. While I wrote books on the process the first time: Flight For Discovery and Flight For Justice, this time I’ll keep a public record as we go along. Order your books today… and you still have a chance to get into the drawing to win a car.

OSHA Process: Comedy Central

I called the OSHA office in Olympia and asked who was the director of the AIR21 statute currently was. The woman said, “The what?” She had no idea what AIR21 was. The law that her agency regulates. After some investigation on her part (she was helpful), she sent me to the Seattle office where the federal claims are filed and the guy said, “What’s an AIR21? I have no idea what that is.” To save his embarrassment, I won’t proceed with the remainder of our discussion on this call. However, Lee’s office subsequently learned that the West Coast AIR21 office had recently moved to San Francisco, but still no name. I called Seattle back to Seattle and this time the guy told me that I had to file the AIR21 with the FAA.

I said, “You are absolutely wrong! This is an OSHA statute and I hope to God you are not telling people to go to the FAA. This is OSHA. Granted the FAA must investigate safety violations, but this is an OSHA statute. All I want to know if who is in charge, so we can appropriately address the complaint.”

He said, “Well, I’m just the guy who is answering the phone.”

I said, “Then why are you giving legal advice? Especially if it’s wrong.”

He said, “I have 27 OSHA statutes.”

I said, “I’m only asking about 1, the AIR21.”

We found the person in charge. Ryan Himes, Assistant Regional Administrator, SFO | Whistleblower Protection Program:

Mr, Himes, promptly responded that he received the complaint and that he had already forwarded it to an OSHA investigator: Andrea Diangco. But then Anread writes to me, introducing herself, and asks me to send her a copy of the complaint that she already has. I asked her why the confusion and the need for two complaints. She failed to reply. This Complaint is probably 5 times the detail of most complaints. Yet she requested we meet in “4 business days” of her receiving it to “gather additional information.”

When has the government jumped to action in 4 days time? Never in my experience.

My first AIR21 Case was filed on June 6, 2016. The OSHA investigator was assigned April 10, 2017 and our meeting scheduled for June 1, 2017. Exactly one year after I filed the complain I was scheduled to meet with the OSHA investigator. Andrea wants to meet in 4 days. Hmmm…. what do you think of this?

Regardless, I’m unavailable on Tuesday, but I will provide her all the supporting documentation for the complaint. I am most certain that is more relevant than an hour meeting. What could she possibly ask me with only the complaint before her? If I have proof of all my assertions? I do. I will provide those documents to her, and then she and I can have our interview for any additional questions she may have.

Experience is POWERFUL be it flying a plane or dealing with the legal system. Standby… this is public trial and I will take you on the adventure of a life.