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North Carolina co-pilot who jumped from plane upset about hard landing: NTSB
'Got up from his seat, removed his headset, apologized and departed the airplane via the aft ramp door,' report states of Charles Crooks incident (www.foxnews.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
How very sad. A damaged landing gear can be repaired and not worth dying for.
A bit deeper investigation reveals that the company policy is harsh, autocratic, and there are punishments for every mistake. I feel so sorry for every copilot that has started their career there. It seems to be a hell on earth :( RIP.
WHO’s investigation? I would not be surprised if a company that caters to the military could be difficult to work for but I haven’t heard of any other of their pilots committing suicide. I do feel very sorry that this poor guy felt this was the only way out. It will be interesting to find out what else was happening in his life.
either way, so he gets fired, its still kind of a strange solution to just dive out of the back of an airplane. Honestly, what if this had not happened but later in his career flying for UPS or United and he did something wrong, what would his reaction have been? very sad indeed.
It’s not that easy, if you are a low hour pilot no matter where you apply you’ll need a letter of good behaviour/recommendation of your last employer. This kid must have thought (and perhaps that was what him was told) that his aviation career had just ended. A broken landing gear is quite a stain on a fresh record. The depts of flight training are already high, add to that the cost of repair of the aircraft (so I heard company policy to let employees pay for damages). I can totally relate that the kid didn’t see a way out anymore. All of which could have been prevented by a more forgiving attitude of the company.
You have an active imagination. A company can not make a pilot pay for damaging an airplane unless a crime is involved. Also, this would be classified as an incident or minor accident since it did not involve injury and he is not the only low time pilot to have dinged an airplane and still have a splendid career. This would not have prevented him from being hired at an airline, especially in the current hiring climate. A letter of good behavior? Never heard of it. A recommendation? Yes, but employers (I am one) these days rarely give negative reviews of employees for fear of lawsuits. His training record and FAA records would be more appropriate for evaluation.
Clearly, a mental health issue has contributed here. Sad that the pilot had deteriorated to that point. If true, the company's culture may have also been a factor. Do you think there will be lawyers involved? Right!
I would agree... To me it is hard to understand how someone can do that, but it is a fact they do. It is very sad when that happens. You would think that someone would have seen some warning signs before it got to this point, because I can't imagine just 1 incident pushing him over the edge.
What questions would you ask to determine how a 23-year-old pilot in training would act if he thought his career was just flushed down the toilet?