Posts with the tag ‘pilots’


Delta “Sorry/Not Sorry” for Retaliating Against Pilot in Whistleblower Case

October 4, 2022

One has to wonder just how much longer Delta Air Lines wants to screw around with Karlene Petitt. Last winter, after five years of testimony and legal arguments, Administrative Law Judge Scott Morris found the airline had mistreated the veteran pilot by retaliating against her when she reported safety violations. In the judge’s word, the airline “weaponized” its right to order pilots to undergo psychiatric examination by sending Petitt to a company-selected psychiatrist who gave her a career-ending diagnosis that was not accurate. There’s a lot to unpack in the case, but for purposes of Delta’s latest shenanigan, let’s just say that when Judge Morris… Read More…


Delta Pilots ‘Need to Know’ Judge Says

June 7, 2022

In the next 30 days, Delta Air Lines must notify 13-thousand pilots of its misbehavior,  in the case of the whistleblower pilot it punished for reporting safety violations. A psychiatrist hired by Delta declared first officer Karlene Petitt, bipolar in a diagnosis that left her grounded until it was disputed by a number of other psychiatrists. Without further delay, the details of the case should be emailed and posted at flight stations for 60 days, under the ruling by Administrative Law Judge Scott Morris. Several years earlier Judge Morris had warned Delta to settle with Petitt. You must decide if “you want all this laundry… Read More…


Jetliner Debris Found Miles from Crash Scene May Indicate Pre-Crash Breakup

March 24, 2022

Chinese authorities say they have found a piece of the China Eastern airliner, six miles from the area where the Boeing 737 NG crashed on Monday. While the main debris field is concentrated as a result of the plane’s near-vertical plummet from the sky, this separate piece, a distance away, indicates that prior to the crash the airplane was shedding parts. Whether the piece coming free of the plane triggered the disaster or if it was a consequence of the high-speed dive is not known but is certainly a question the investigators will try to answer. An airliner dropping nose down so dramatically and rapidly… Read More…


Will the 737 MAX Fly Again?

June 17, 2020

For those who like to gamble, the stakes are pretty high on one simple yes or no question, Will the Boeing 737 MAX fly again? I think it is unlikely, but on that, I am in the minority. Wednesday’s U.S. Senate hearing at which FAA administrator Stephen Dickson is scheduled to testify could provide some clues to the airplane’s future. (You can watch the hearing live here, beginning at 10:00 a.m. EST.) Over the past few weeks, I’ve reached out to industry insiders for their opinions. Few shared my gloomy view about the MAX. It seems that the sixties-era, twin-engine jetliner with the fancy new… Read More…


A Decade in Aviation Departs Leaving Challenges in Its Wake

December 31, 2019

The request for an email interview arrived in my inbox from Namibia shortly after Christmas. The journalist wanted my thoughts about, what else, the Boeing 737 Max. The October 2018 and March 2019 crashes of two of Boeing’s newest jetliners and the subsequent grounding of the fleet for an unprecedented 9 months (and counting) is the aviation story of the decade. Like a pebble tossed into a pond, the ripples continue to radiate outward, making the Max debacle a story of global significance. Norway, Indonesia, Argentina, China, Mauritania, Iceland, Morocco, airlines in these and other nations have been impacted by decisions made at Boeing and… Read More…


United Pilot’s Revenge Porn Case Exposes Larger Problem

September 18, 2019

After being charged by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission with fostering a hostile work environment by failing to take action against a pilot posting revenge porn, United Airlines is now said to be in settlement discussions with the Federal agency. Perhaps, after years of pretending a flight attendant’s torment wasn’t the airline’s problem, United will finally do the right thing. When it comes to pilots behaving badly, it’s hard to beat the now-retired United Capt Mark Uhlenbrock of Chesterfield, Missouri. From 2006 until 2015 when he was arrested by the FBI, he posted nude photos of the United flight attendant with whom he’d had a… Read More…


Will Jeff Epstein’s Popular “Global Girl” Face Sex Crime Charges Too?

July 9, 2019

Among the lengthy list of villains in the disturbing saga of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is a small cadre of women who as youngsters themselves, helped the billionaire feed his insatiable appetite for teenaged girls. Nadia Marcinko, the pilot and social media influencer known as Global Girl, was named as one of these abetters, as I reported before in Flying Lessons. We know that victims testified Marcinko was a participant in the sex crimes Epstein plead guilty to in Palm Beach back in 2008. Forty girls said Epstein paid them to for sex sometimes with him and Marcinko, and that they were also encouraged to recruit other… Read More…


With Female Pilot, Olay Ad Sells a Future of Possibilities for Girls

October 2, 2018

Twenty-one-year-old airline pilot Tristan Mazzu thought she’d found her dream job when she was hired as a first officer at SkyWest Airlines in 2017. But the glamour of flying was elevated when she was selected by Olay to appear in an ad campaign celebrating women who take on challenges. Her inadvertent entry into the world of modeling, has turned Mazzu into a role model for girls. In the minute-long ad, Mazzu reflects on the instructor who questioned her potential, stereotypes that reinforce discrimination, voices of doubt in her own head and the raised eyebrows of others when they see her in her pilot’s uniform. She… Read More…


Cascade of Failures on Air India Jet, Leads to Close Call at Newark

September 14, 2018

A cascade of failures on an Air India Boeing 777 led to an emergency diversion to Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday. By the time the plane touched down, fuel was low enough for a “not very comfortable,” situation for the crew, according to Les Abend, a recently retired 777 captain. On Friday, Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency was aware of the event and would be looking into it along with Air India. Flight 101 from Delhi to New York’s JFK with 370 people aboard was descending through 300 feet when the crew initiated a go-around. After reaching two-thousand… Read More…


Baby Boy Is Silver Lining to Harrowing WestJet Flight

July 10, 2018

A woman who met her partner on the WestJet Flight to St. Maarten that nearly ended in disaster, has given birth to a baby boy, with the man she met on the three-seconds-from-catastrophe flight. Carter Gooderham Davis, 7 pounds 8 ounces, was born on Canada Day, July 1 in Edmonton, Alberta to Natasha Mackesey, 30, and Ben Davis, 31. It “goes to show that life and love does happen when you least expect it,” Ben told me in an email. On March 7, 2017, Ben and his friend Rob King boarded Westjet Flight 2652 in Toronto. As they found their seats, middle and aisle in… Read More…


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