PILOT SPIN
Pilot Zone => Pilot Zone => Topic started by: Jaybird180 on January 18, 2018, 08:07:32 AM
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***SPOILER ALERT***
I enjoy watching this show and especially having an aviation catch to it made it worthy to discuss on an aviation board. If you watch and haven't seen it yet then you might want to stop here.
In this episode a female airline pilot has a mental breakdown after being forced to fly with a Captain who raped her 6months prior. The show later reveals that airline bought her silence with promises of fast tracking her to the left seat.
Her breakdown included her making a deviation to return to origination airport and then locking the Captain out of the cockpit. Immediately the overtones of her being of Immigrant descent comes into play as the word "Terrorist" is strewn about. She is charged with a crime but after investigation, the government drops the terrorism charges against her. The show later reveals that she loses her ticket.
What crime did she commit? Only possibility that comes to mind is a violation of 91.11 Interfering with a Flight Crew. She plead guilty and is sentenced to 2 years. When another former company female pilot comes forward to tell of her similar account, the Captain is convicted of the rape and he pleads to 10yrs in jail.
If the woman who lost her ticket wants to challenge the revocation how would she do this and what is the likelihood of success? What possible related FARs carry the potential of a jail sentence? Is this just fiction or can this happen in real life?
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USC, Title 49, subchapter VII.
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Post it on Facebook. Get a gazillion likes and have it replayed on the so-called "news outlets".
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USC, Title 49, subchapter VII.
Can you be more specific please? I was only able to find criminal penalties for operating without a ticket everything else was civil and punishable by fine.
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If I were a lawyer(I'm not), and I were a prosecutor(I'm not) I would explore the charging of aviation hijack terrorism. By deviating from the flight path, locking the door, not communicating with ATC, and having to be physically removed from the controls - I suspect that's where my thinking would go. I'm also not going to look up the relevant fed law.
Disclaimer, I didn't see the whole thing, just the first ~10 min, and that was enough for me to switch it off and go in the hot tub. Notwithstanding all the history of the crew, and also the not subtle pressure to keep her wings, and take flight assignments, once you sit down in the seat, and you are rostered for the the flight, all that other crap is meaningless. The cockpit is never the place to resolve personal issues, up to and including assault, rape, etc. Fix it on the ground, or don't take the flight with that guy.
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If I were a lawyer(I'm not), and I were a prosecutor(I'm not) I would explore the charging of aviation hijack terrorism. By deviating from the flight path, locking the door, not communicating with ATC, and having to be physically removed from the controls - I suspect that's where my thinking would go. I'm also not going to look up the relevant fed law.
Disclaimer, I didn't see the whole thing, just the first ~10 min, and that was enough for me to switch it off and go in the hot tub. Notwithstanding all the history of the crew, and also the not subtle pressure to keep her wings, and take flight assignments, once you sit down in the seat, and you are rostered for the the flight, all that other crap is meaningless. The cockpit is never the place to resolve personal issues, up to and including assault, rape, etc. Fix it on the ground, or don't take the flight with that guy.
Prior to seeing her testimony, I thought this way too. There was discussion between Benson and Dodds that her behavior fit the pattern of a rape victim and it was corroborated by employment attendance records and photos subsequent to her attack that surfaced.
When the Captain left the flight deck, did she effectively become the Pilot In Command with all authority over the flight? Possibly.
She testified that up until the moment he got so close (when leaving the flight deck) that she could smell his breath, cologne and the feel of him touching her that she thought she could be professional and just complete the flight....until she felt panic and had to get the plane on the ground and immediately disembark.
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IMNSHO, a professional pilot, with a feeling of anxiety/rage/anger/frustration that suddenly rises so high as to be disabling, they cannot be at the controls. Call in the lead FA, leave the flight deck, go to the back and lock yourself in the bathroom. I don't care about all the other excuses. Get off the flight controls!
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She wasn't disabled, she made a bad decision. That decision was to turn the aircraft around. That didn't rise to the level of any safety issue by itself. The issue is her locking the Captain out of the flight deck. After understanding all of the circumstances I think I understand the victim trauma-rationale-logic there. She had an agreement with the company that she wouldn't fly with the guy anymore and at some point they reneged. She thought she could handle it. Mind you, she didn't seek PTSD or rape counseling for that might have been medically disqualifying on her Class 1. She was in a tough situation.
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I vote, and stand by my vote that the totality of the actions I saw fit my definition of disabling. A partial list: Turn off A/P begin hand flying, no navigation investigation, just a 'turn around' maneuver, no comms with ATC, lock the door AND change the door code, fail to get a second person on the flight deck(req after Germanwings nutjob), unusual manipulation of the flight controls, fear, ranting, raving, screaming, required multiple crew to pull her off the controls, physical restraint.
I'm sure it was all explained away later. But this is not later, this is now, and now was an unfit person at the controls of a pax jet.
YMMV, don't try this at home, contents have settled, things are closer than they appear, and may cause anal leakage.