To get the attention of county commissioners, STARFlight was grounded for a few hours on Thursday.

After shutting down for several hours Thursday, STARflight helicopters and employees are back in the air.

STARFlight decided early Thursday to temporarily shut down operations after some employees expressed concern over thedecision to reinstate former Director of Operations Merlin Handley. Handley is involved in a whistleblower lawsuit against Austin, Travis County and his own employees. Thursday afternoon Travis County Commissioners called an emergency meeting to allow pilots and paramedics to air their concerns.

STARFlight employees claim reinstating Handley will create major safety issues that they believe may jeopardize their lives and lives they're trying to save.

"We do not take lightly the issue to stand down to address an issue that is near and dear to our heart," said STARFlight Clinical Manager Jim Allday. One of my biggest concerns is that this is going to get so distracting. We may do something unsafe that may result in the death of crew members when we could have done something on the front end."

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	STARFlight troubles Crew members got the attention of county commissioners on Thursday.

Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe said he was not surprised by the commissioners’ unhappiness with the decision, but by their decision to stand down.

After a two-hour discussion, county commissioners decided to re-address the issue at the meeting next week.

Seen as progress in their endeavors, STARFlight crews went back to work.

"Every person must be at a certain comfort level to successfully complete a mission. If not, you're actually putting the entire crew in jeopardy, as well as any patient you might pick up. So once the crews are back at that level, they're ready to fly," said Willy Culberson, STARFlight's chief pilot.

Biscoe said he doesn't want to see another shut-down situation next week, and he'll consider some of the issues brought up at the meeting.