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OSHA Orders Pilot To Be Reinstated After Being Illegally Fired
Faced one night with a trip over mountainous terrain in a medical transport helicopter with a faulty emergency locator transmitter, a pilot refused to fly the unsafe aircraft and was later terminated in retaliation for doing so. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration followed. As a result, Air Methods Corp. was ordered to reinstate the pilot, pay $158,000 in back wages and $8,500 in damages, and remove disciplinary information from… (www.dol.gov) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
If it's not safe, it's not safe. Sooner or later you have to let the person whose ass is going to die in the crash with you make the call. We pay the folks at the controls to get us there in one piece, and we can't let ownership, with a huge insurance cushion in case something "unfortunate" happens, make the make that decision for the pilot. If I'm going up in the air, I want the guy/gal up front, who has the same to lose as me, making the go/no go decisions. Flying is an unnatural act for humans, so let's not let some desk jockey get in the mix.
i expect this ruling got the attention of the morons who would compromise safety and knowingly put pilots and passengers in a lesser safe condition. unsafe is unsafe is unsafe, and anybody who has ever flown anything ought not to put another pilot in any jeopardy situation simply for convenience sake. a faulty elt is a no-go item period. If I had to go in this situation, I would file IFR and thereby be on somebody's scope all the way. If I went down, someone would notice where, maybe. However, when a pilot busts a federal aviation regulation, guess whose liscense and wallet gets affected.
I would also expect that now Air Methods will find another reason to fire him. They have lost a number of their whirly birds in semi-recent history.
Filing and flying on an IFR flight plan does not guarantee that you will be in radar contact throughout the entire flight, although in the states the coverage is fairly seamless. Don't assume that being IFR will mean radar coverage! It ain't so!
I'm not sure all their whirley-birds are equipped for IFR.
I remember when I was a crew chief on a Huey in Vietnam the engine fire light came on at about 4000 feet. Started looking out the back for smoke or flames,saw none. Made it back to the base and I red Xed it. Maintenance officer said it was a faulty sensor and to take red X off so it could be flown again. Told me to "fly it and watch it". I told him to screw you, fix it 1st. Wasn't like we could land anywhere if something happened.