ASAP programs in jeopardy
ALL ASAP programs are in jeopardy. It has to do with the Comair crash in Lexington.
When one of the civil plaintiff attorneys (an ambulance chaser, not an aviation attorney) found out that there is a voluntary program whereby pilot admit their sins (the ASAP program), he petitioned the judge to allow the plaintiff cousel access to these files. Naturally, the defense, composed of several law firms and Comair's own incompetent attorneys, filed a motion to suppress. At this point, ALPA sent in their legal team in support of keeping the ASAP files private. The judge over-ruled. The defense took their appeal to the Kentucky State Supreme Court. The KSC found in favor of the plaintiff. The defense has appealed to the US Supreme Court. However, during this time, the judge handed over EVERY ASAP report ever filed at any airline, NOT just Comair, to the legal teams suing Comair. Guess what, folks. All of those ASAP reports are now public information, and if you file an ASAP, expect anybody to be able to get their hands on your report someday.
Comair has now settled 47 of the 49 cases, and one of the last two is about to be settled very soon. Thus, the comair defense team no longer cares about protecting the privacy of the ASAP program. I'm sure the US Supreme Court has placed the appeal very, very low on their priority list.
Something to think about next time you want to file an ASAP.
Rott