NYPD pilots claim ex-top NYC Aviation boss discriminated against them

Three well-qualified NYPD pilots, including one who trained military Blackhawk fliers, claim they were benched by the allegedly corrupt and unqualified boss of the Aviation Unit — who put his black cronies ahead of them. 

Pilots Joseph Medina, Vlad Ravich and David Ebrigt are suing former unit boss Winston Faison, along with the city, in Manhattan Supreme Court for unspecified damages, alleging they were retaliated against for reporting safety issues and lost promotions and benefits because of the discrimination.

Army National Guardsman Medina, 39, returned from deployment in the Middle East from 2021-2023 to find that Faison had removed him from a promotions list and replaced him with a less experienced black pilot, according to court documents.

Ravich, 40, who called Faison out for safety issues, was barred from flying, he claims in the suit.

Ebright, 44, accused Faison of hiding the damage to a chopper he caused while training another cop how to hover near the ground.

“If the damage was not caught” before the next flight, a pilot “could have crashed and died,” according to the litigation filed Friday by lawyer John Scola.

Faison was booted from the Aviation Unit in July after allegedly attempting to thwart the Federal Aviation Administration’s attempts to investigate complaints, including one that he caused $40,000 damage to the helicopter during the training exercise, The Post exclusively reported. He has retired from the department.

Medina, who is Hispanic, transferred into the unit with multiple advanced pilot licenses in 2015 and was on the list to be promoted to detective when he was deployed to the Middle East in 2021.

When he returned from training soldiers to fly Blackhawk helicopters two years later, Faison was in charge.

“One of the first things he did was take me out of an instructing role because he said I hadn’t instructed in awhile,” Medina told The Post with a laugh.

Faison also took him off the promotions list, according to the suit.

Pilot Brian Worthington was promoted instead of Medina — despite having crashed a $20 million chopper, causing “$4 million in damages” in 2022, according to the lawsuit. 

Medina left the NYPD last year for another law enforcement agency.

Ebright joined the unit in March 2024 after more than 20 years of flying private airplanes, and was assigned to fly the NYPD’s spy plane, which can detect radioactivity and is located at Islip Airport on Long Island.

A week later, he was told to return to unit headquarters at Floyd Bennett Field because a black pilot was replacing him, he alleges in the suit.

Ebrite decided to leave the unit after the July 4 incident in which Faison allegedly damaged the unit’s Bell 407 training helicopter. The mishap destroyed the $1.5 million helicopter’s tail rotor and Faison did not report it, according to his lawsuit.

“That kind of spooked me and made me come to the decision that enough is enough,” said the married dad of three girls,11, 7 and 10 months. 

“The problem was the fact that he walked away from it,” he said. “If the next guy didn’t happen to see that, it could cause a catastrophic failure.”

Ravich, who’s Jewish and from Russia, transferred into the unit in 2022 with his pilot’s license.

The unit is lit with “aviation red” lights at night so its pilots’ eyes will adjust before flying, per FAA standards.

Faison insisted that regular lights be on because “if a NYPD executive arrives … they will believe no one is working,” according to the lawsuit. Ravich complained and was moved to desk duty.

“Since [Faison] left, training for the needs of the Aviation Unit have resumed,” Ravich told The Post. “Now, the utilization of personnel is based on qualifications.”

“By lowering aviation standards and promoting pilots based on race instead of merit, the NYPD recklessly endangered the safety of its own officers,” Scola told The Post.

The NYPD didn’t respond to a request for comment. Faison refused to comment when reached by phone.