Originally Posted by
Ed Harley
If their ASAP report is included in the program, then all action towards the crew must be done through the direction of the ERC (Union, FAA, Company). It doesn't matter that it wasn't sole-source. The FAA or the company cannot also pursue this crew through any other means.
And the only reasons to exclude a report from the program are: Intentional disregard for safety, timeliness (report is filed too late, usually after 24 hours), medical issues, and falsification.
Again, some uninformed people think that ASAP is a "get out of jail free" card. Not true at all. The program allows pilots to freely share information about how this incident occurred, which can be very useful to all other pilots to prevent it from happening again. If the company or FAA chooses to go after this crew the old fashion way, then lawyers get involved, the pilots are directed not to say anything more than they have to, and consequently none of us really learn why this event happened and we are more likely to repeat the incident again.
This is incorrect - the boilerplate ASAP MOU provides protection from certificate action by the FAA - period. Unless your company has a side agreement between the company and the union, the company is not prohibited from taking any action it wants (on a non-sole source event, like this one) using information gathered from outside the program. which is why, I will give you, lots of airlines have the side letter. Point being, it is the side letter, not the ASAP MOU, protecting you from company discipline.
Also, to be precise, "Reports of events involving apparent noncompliance with 14 CFR that is not inadvertent or that appears to involve an intentional disregard for safety, criminal activity, substance abuse, controlled substances, alcohol, or intentional falsification are excluded from the program."