Atlanta airport worker once fired for speaking out says city wastes money on dormant equipment

ATLANTA - The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport interim general manager said she will look into allegations that two multi-million dollar pieces of equipment are not being used and could save the city millions of dollars.

The allegation came from an airport maintenance employee who said he used to operate the specialty equipment and wanted to do it again, but was denied by his supervisors.

Aviation employee Michael Jones said he was put on administrative leave for speaking out back in June about improprieties he saw.

Michael Jones

"We still don't know where the money is. We asked at that meeting that y'all please do an investigation because there's no oversight at Department of Aviation," Jones said.

The 45-year-old says he was slapped with administrative leave after criticizing his supervisors at the airport. 

Jones said from 2012 to 2018, he operated a $2 million piece of equipment called the Stripe Hog, similar to the one shown on the Hog Technologies YouTube channel.

It takes paint and rubber off of runways and taxiways without doing damage. But Jones lost his job. 

He said he lost everything he had and everything he worked for.

"2023 with the help of my attorney, James Radford, I got my job back," Jones explained at the Transportation Committee meeting.

Though he's back, he called the department a cesspool. He claimed several of his colleagues were being mistreated. He told members of the City Council's Transportation Committee that airport workers don't have the equipment they need like walkie-talkies or proper uniforms, and are in constant fear of being fired. 

"I told them, 'If we come as a whole, they can't fire all of us at the same time,'" Jones said.

Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport runway

During public comment on Wednesday, Jones offered to save the city millions by going back to his old job of operating the Stripe Hog. 

"These machines are approximately $2 million a piece. One of them is sitting in aviation right now, and might as well be a paper weight because it doesn't run. The other runs sometimes," the maintenance worker explained.

Jones said the contractor who now has the job charges the city $7 million a year.

Council members asked the airport to look into the allegations.

"I don’t want anyone thinking we have millions of dollars and equipment lying around that are not in use," Councilwoman Marci Collier Overstreet said.

"I am going to research it, and I’m going to find out and get the facts," Interim Airport General Manager Jan Lennon vowed. 

FOX 5 Atlanta reached out to airport officials to get their response to these allegations. We are still waiting to hear back.