Originally Posted by
Turbine
I have a friend who was fired from Ameriflight after failing one recurrent simulator checkride on the metro, after working there for over 3 years !
He had never had problems with training or checkrides in the past. He had flown the metro for a year and a half or so, and the Ameriflight instructor didn't like the way he did a stall or something and failed him. No retraining or anything.
If that is indeed the full story, that is some BS.
I have also heard from another friend that used to work at AMflight that once pilots start getting a little too high on the payscale, and or cheif pilots don't like them they will find a way to fire them. The other story that stood out was in CVG. Supposedly a captain wrote something up and was upset that it had not been fixed yet. The cheif pilot told the mx guy to help get the captain ****ed off so they could fire him over it. The mx guy declined and said that they could not fire him for writing something up. The mx guy ended up getting fired.
There are always two sides to a story and I do not have all the facts I am sure, but they are concering none the less.
IMHO there must be more to the story than you were told. I'm coming up on 12 years with the company and I fly the largest current aircraft we have (E120) so I know the "high up on the pay scale" thing is BS. I can think of at least 4 other pilots who are in this same position. Biggest airplane, topped out on the pay scale.
I also think there must be more to the check ride story. I have seen too many guys get LOTS of chances before being let go, both on recurrent and initial check rides. When I have seen people let go over aircraft issues, the pilot's attitude has usually been a big factor. Pilots I have seen fired were ones who messed up and then ademantly denied it in the face of overwelming physical evidence. On the flip side I know a pilot who taxied into another aircraft and was NOT fired because there were mitgating circumstances and he owned up to it.
As for the CVG Mx incident, I have no direct knowledge of what you describe. But I have gone head to head with mechanics, base level mx managers and in some cases even higher. In every instance, if I had a valid squawk, I know from personal experiance that I had the support of the flight department management all the way to the very top.