How is it that the contract employee stated the wrong name, ("David"), but was able to report the correct name as having refused the drug test? Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners. I doubt a veteran pilot with all that time in went through his savings and his investments in that short a time. . He's now getting some justice in court. I am not surprised this happened. He may have been wronged but I have no sympathy for his "destitute" sob story. Endeavor provides an exciting opportunity to fly commercial MHI CRJ 200/700/900 aircraft. The employee sought to notify him to take a random drug test after a flight to Miami. document.getElementById( "ak_js" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Clarify, clarify, and verify! First off, his savings and how quickly he blew through it, not for me to comment. My FAA incident was long before I went there. I have no recourse to this vindictive crime. United Airlines' CEO Scott Kirby revealed six of its pilots were fired after not getting vaccinated. I worked at AAL for 11 years. Anyone who voted for Dementia Joe deserves what they got. Pilot Retention Bonus Program, up to $150,000. I agree about the Union. It's the dirtiest of business practices. Some of APAs members are unable to undergo vaccination for documented medical reasons, while others are reluctant to get vaccinated based upon concerns about the potential for career-ending side effects, read the Sept. 24 letter. In August 2020, an American Airlines pilot was approached by a contractor to take a drug test. American Airlines sent out a defiant email to all of its U.S. employees, putting them on notice that if they do not get fully vaccinated against COVID by November 24, they will be FIRED on the spot. He was terminated without cause. I consent to the use of following cookies: Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. I agree about the Union. Botched a drug test for Dimwit, picked a wrong time to be @Mike Maybe if the contractor's mistake is not asking for dimwit to take the test. Good luck, Although I agree with the testing asking for a person and it was the wrong person should have been noted somewhere in the testing company notes all the things that happened to cthis pilot was an avoidable situation Im happy he took it to court and the ones who blessed up are held liable, I wouldve thought the pilot wouldve stay there and try and find out who this David was or if it was him with a typo mistake. My brother had achieve his commercial pilot's license and when my father passed away, I had taken my portion of our inheritance to get both my son and I a private pilot's license. The Airline and Contractor was wrong! As a result, Mager wrote, Ingram was grounded forever and all FAA public records of him ever having been a pilot were gone from the FAA Airmen Registry public website., This is a BETA experience. Better sell the third Maserati too! Youll receive the industry's highest compensation, unparalleled advancement opportunities, and benefits few other regionals can match. But this is more than just a saying, for pilots. The issue was that the drug test was allegedly for someone else, so the pilot didnt take it. Id rather the airlines take a hard stance to eliminate ANY chance my pilots are loaded!! Even worse, this may have been a case of "fire him before he retires, so we don't have to pay Captains pay retirement plans" situation. You can't tell me that someone who had lived 62 years with the name "DeWitt" wasn't used to people mispronouncing it. April 8, 2021 - Before the Covid pandemic hit, airlines were preparing for a wave of pilot retirements, which are federally mandated when pilots reach age 65. Pilots (and even more so Capitan of a legacy airline) are some of the most well compensated professions in the planet, especially in America. Lets see, no products available for Christmas, no transportation available for Christmas, no medical doctors or nurses available, food shortages, huge inflation, dictatorial leadership, massive gun sales. Easier to break someone financially than to be right in the first place. The union didnt specify who exactly should be replaced but said it was below senior management. Legal fees alone would eat every penny I have saved over a lifetime given the ample pockets of the testing company and AA. They are tasked with assuring that American Airlines operation is reliable, not only for our pilots but most importantly for our passengers, Allied Pilots Association spokesman Dennis Tajer said. Memegate was a first officer who was fired for posting an offensive meme to a pilot facebook group, redhategate was a pilot who was "canceled" from a social media firestorm because he posted a picture of himself in the cockpit with a MAGA hat. Im a retired Bus driver who also got drug tested. Isnt this one of the main purposes of unions, to defend employees in situations like this? The union for American Airlines pilots is calling on the company to fire the management team members who control the American Airlines operation after another summer when the carrier sometimes struggled with delays and cancellations. He should have looked at the paperwork before walking off. If this were reddit, it'd be an ETA from me. The pilot should be vindicated and WELL compensated. Business owners in America R just GREEDY D-BAGS willing to ruin a life to save $! He just makes bad decisions. The union only represents you when you get disciplined by the company. Hope pilot's lawyers torch AAL. New book: Kenny Riley & Black Union Labor Power in Port of Charleston. If the contractor went to that flight for a reason. Since random drug testing is performed by the contractor asking for a specific employee, Ingram informed the person that his name wasnt David, and at that point he walked up the jet bridge and into the terminal. Two months later, American fired him. Admittedly alcohol might have been out of his system at that point, but we have no reason to believe that was an issue, since the test was random (and not due to any suspicion). When people comment that he has used up his savings perhaps they are forgetting something. What is their say in the matter? But yeah he should have stuck around and just said what's the last name why is no one talking about what's the last name you're looking for that would have cleared it up immediately but that's what happens when you contract out something that's so damn important a drug test is so important You can lose your job and career over this and they contracted out to save a buck It's a shame on American to do that You want to contract out work all the ramp out there and mechanics and all that kind of stuff fine but contracting out someone doing a drug test on someone's career no they couldn't pronounce the name right but he should have said what's the last name you're looking for He took advantage of that but Americans wrong for contracting this out in the beginning, So sad he should get all back pay he is not guilty until proven aa should have better known guy with 21 years service no bed record both aa and drug testing companies must pay up and get his license back. Their heads are thick as a brick. The Allied Pilots Association, a labor union representing 14,000 American Airlines pilots, is urging its members to stay focused as some pilots fight the carrier's vaccine mandate. Amtrak is wholly reliant on the government to survive. June 2021 - Uniteds new blockbuster order for 270 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft comes with huge job growth. It could have been a set up by another employee. If just David, the Eulen America employee should be put in prison. But i wonder if these calls happened immediately or within 15-20 minutes of this refusal situation. Why it so difficult to print out the drug test order and have whoever is informing the pilot hand the documentation to the pilot or flight attendant? There's red flags all over this case, yet the union's leaders couldn't see through the paper bags they constantly are wearing over their heads! Southwest is not the only carrier hiring pilots in 2021, but it is further evidence of the ongoing recovery in the American aviation industry. I'm an FAA Airman too. It's probably not the first time someone pronounces his name as David and he's probably annoyed by that. The FAAs intent was to establish that proper notification had occurred or that there was a refusal to test on the part of the pilot, he said. This site uses different types of cookies. Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies. I believe he should be granted, by the judge and jury, three times what his retirement should have been. I a civil Court I would go for the Euling employee who surrender the refusal report as well. The U.S. rail company in the memo noted that many employees have expressed apprehension about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Why would they asked the flight attendant and then leave her they said no he wasnt on the flight. Its been a long dark hole in the ground prison alone and told repeatedly to never tell anyone so as to protect me.. January 2021 - UPS reports they expect to hire 227 pilots in 2021. And that's what scares me. Opinions expressed here are the authors alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. August 2021 - Envoy is introducing the Pilot Retention and Bonus Program for pilots to earn up to $150,000 in retention compensation and captain bonuses. No regional airline gets pilots to a major airline faster. You should reach out to John, you seem to share the same level of understanding. Lessons learned. This is one of those situations where you almost have to wonder if theres more to the story thats not known. Answer (1 of 6): My airline is unionized with ALPA There are procedures for termination of employment. Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ). This is a misscarige of justice Shame on AA for not throughly looking into this so carelessly and now this man's career is ruined. Theres still junk everywhere. Now corporate America and hedge funds that control Wall Street cut jobs and demand the rest to do two or three peoples jobs. An identity document with photo should also be used in an important case like the one described here. Thomas Pallini. Worse yet AAL managers sanctioned it wholeheartedly and aggressively. They dont just go to a gate and hope they get the right person. Now, of course in retrospect, I think its worth acknowledging that there might have been a better way to handle this. While the two sides have met regularly over the past few months, APFA . Alaska Airlines Business Card Review: 70K Miles & Lufthansas Boeing 787 Business Class: Exactly As Expected. They claimed bankruptcy, just to screw all the retirees, and opened right back up. but rather should have given the tester time to check the paperwork and get it straightened out. Anyone in the transportation field needs to have random drug and alcohol testing. Does any employee have the duty to inquire further? But, he didnt really win the election so our suffering is a grave injustice. Totally agree. Maybe he was sick, or a family member was sick, and it cost a fortune cancer treatment, is upwards of 300k. Apparently he'll kick me off before I even make it down the jet bridge. Before promoting Lakshman Amaranayaka as Vice President of Philadelphia, there . Legal fees alone would eat every penny I have saved over a lifetime given the ample pockets of the testing company and AA. If you are not the person they are asking for & notified them as so, then continued on your way. Did he ask for "David Ingram" or just "David". Oct 23, 2021, 6:34 AM. Unfortunately his career ended abruptly in August 2020. High Experience Bonus, $15,000 for those with at least 1,000 hours of qualified FAR 121 experience or $10,000 for those with at least 750 hours of qualified FAR 121 experience. I'm 22 and on my way to become a professional pilot, I have gotten most ratings done, and also an associates degree. He was combative with other crew, passengers and airline staff and ultimately failed the drug test and was fired by the airline. 1981, when President Reagan fired over 11,000 air traffic controllers for participating in a strike in violation of a return-to-work order. I've duked it out with their lawyers. Gordon E. Browning, PhD. American Airlines and the FAA essentially took the stance that his failure to complete the test constituted a refusal, while the pilot repeatedly and consistently insisted that he had never been notified that he was selected for a random test, since the contractor said it was for someone named David.. He had just landed in Miami after working a flight. I would be willing to bet he never treated his employer as poorly as they have treated him! The pilot if he had nothing to hide should have taken the drug test. United announced its vaccine . The unions board of directors representing 14,000 pilots at American Airlines pinned some of the periods of heavy cancellations and flight delays this summer on the operations team that helps run the companys day-to-day flight schedule. The contractor asked for someone called David. Starting in January 2022, they will be hiring 200 per month. More than a third of American Airlines pilots and flight attendants will take voluntary leave or retire in April or May, helping the Fort Worth-based carrier deal with an excess of workers during . In fact, Envoy Airlines, one of American Airlines' wholly owned regional carriers, offers as much as $175,000 in bonusesalbeit with many fine-print clausesto attract and retain pilots. His life finances have nothing to do with him being fired. Ive exhausted my 401K and sold stock and two cars to survive. To that extent, the airline will be opening up positions for roughly 120 pilots. Endeavor pilots are leading the way with the best hourly pilot pay and enjoy a family-like culture where your team supports you every step of the way. The program will also be retroactive to include all current pilots at Envoy and new hires through 2022. 22 years flying for the Airline I indicated a professional experience Pilot. This man was a faithful employee who got the boot right as he was getting ready for retirement. Prior to the report, American Airlines (A1G) (AAL) reported having asked over 3,300 employees to return from leave to aid in fortifying its staffing requirements. By October 7, that number decreased to 232. The pilot has blasted the curriculum online, and the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition which supports it. To be clear, The people hired to make check marks or spelled names barely speak English, and there they're pronunciation and/or or there Capacity to check the correct boxes Can be in question definitely. Take the damn rest and then use your union to investigate. Exhausted his 401K and sold cars and shares to survive ?