Feds probe flight risks at NYPD’s Aviation Unit as ‘incompetent’ commander booted after safety failures

The head of the NYPD’s Aviation Unit was booted from the elite squad this week after trying to block the feds from probing his dangerous mishaps, The Post has learned.

Aviation’s Commanding Officer Winston Faison was an “incompetent boob” who had numerous breaches in safety as he attempted to make himself the unit’s head helicopter instructor, whistleblowers revealed.

When FAA inspectors made a surprise visit to the base on July 16 because of internal complaints to the agency, Faison flipped his lid, police sources said.

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“Do not give them anything!’” he barked at his cops, an insider said. “Who let them on the base?”

Members have complained to the FAA and to NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau about Faison, 52, who took over in 2023 after stints at Youth Strategies, Community Affairs and two Brooklyn precincts. Complaints included:

• Nearly crashed at the Brooklyn home base while flying the unit’s pricey Bell 407 training helicopter with a student next to him during a hard landing in the last week in June. “He and the student hit the ground hard,” the first source said. Neither was hurt.
• Took the same helicopter for a solo jaunt up the Hudson River on  April 25, flying in the wrong seat against manufacturer’s rules. “There are emergency procedures that can only be performed sitting in the right (hand) seat,” said a second police source.
• The helicopter’s tail rotor leaked oil and Faison didn’t catch it because he doesn’t do pre-flight checks as required by the FAA, the sources said. “When he landed the tail of the aircraft was covered in oil,” the second source said.
• Hired new employees without the oversight of the NYPD, the sources said. “He’s working around department rules to get his people in,” a third source said.
• Oversped his rotor and “could have torched a half-million engine we just got,” the first source said. “Drooped”(cq) the rotor system down to dangerously low speeds, nearly crashing, the sources said.
• Caused structural damage to a $40,000 tail rotor while practicing a “quick stop” maneuver over rocks on July 4. “If that goes, you’re going to spin around like a top,” the first source said.

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Luckily, the tail rotor damage occurred during the final flight on the July 4 holiday, so Faison couldn’t fly again, the sources said.

“He didn’t understand why he couldn’t keep flying,” the first source said.

The incident wasn’t immediately reported to the National Transportation Safety Board as required, the third source said.

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The unit bought two new blades for a total $80,000 to be safe, the sources said.

The Bell 407, which is used for teaching new pilots, is a 1996 model and is worth about $1.5 million. The unit also has four Bell 429’s for patrolling, two Bell 412’s for air sea rescues and a spy plane that can detect radioactivity.

During the FAA visit, the feds left word that they would be back to talk to Faison, but he told his cops to keep them out, the sources said.

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“He’s telling them you’re not to let the FAA through the guard booth,” the second source said.

Faison also threatened to lock up the records, the insiders said.

“’We’re not locking up these records,’” the mechanics said, according to the second source.

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“His biggest fear is for him to be exposed as the incompetent boob that he is,” a second law enforcement source said.

“The only way this guy is going to learn his lesson is when he kills somebody,” another source added.

Faison was put in charge of the unit in 2023 and made $234,903 in 2024, records show.

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Faison, who joined the NYPD in 2000 and became the unit’s first black commander to fanfare in 2023, began training for his instructor’s license in April and obtained it May 28.

He got his coveted helicopter instructor’s license in record time on the city’s dime despite showing up so late to a $80,000 course in Texas that concerned trainers in the Lone Star State called the unit’s base at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, the second source said.

“It used to take a decade to become a helicopter instructor in the unit,” the third source said. “This guy does it in 18 months.”

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Like most NYPD pilots, he had a commercial plane license when he joined the unit.

Faison went to two Bell training programs on the city’s dime totaling more than $100,000 — one for $80,000 and the other around $20,000, including the air and sea rescue class he showed up to late in Texas despite having a travel day, the sources said.

Meanwhile, pilots in the unit are working double and triple shifts because of high attrition at the NYPD, the sources said.

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“He used up all the hours in the helicopter,” a fourth source said, explaining that helicopters have to be taken out of service after so many flying hours. “There were pilots sitting around because he pushed them aside for himself.”

No reason was given for his ouster in an internal NYPD document that went out to members Thursday night.

A police source familiar with Faison’s transfer said he is under internal investigation.

The FAA could suspend or revoke Faison’s pilot’s license. Faison hung up on a reporter who called him Friday. The NYPD didn’t comment.