I never denied that "falsification" of the load manifest is illegal and a fireable offense. However, neither the FO nor the documentary revealed the full background of the incident.

It was not a black and white situation, or maybe you might think it is depending on if you think every crew who has ever accommodated a jumpseater should be fired.
(And if you do, I respect your opinion but you need not read further or reply. Also, holding that opinion is one thing - actually taking the step to have the crew fired is another.)

This FO had problems (as he truthfully said! - "They said I was the problem"), and was getting fired. Apparently he was not buddies with said captain, and decided if he was going to get fired, he would drag the captain down with him. Unfortunately the captain provided that opportunity when he helped a commuting jumpseater. I do not think he would have done it if he ever thought it would compromise the safety of the flight. Yes, what the captain did was illegal - but it was hardly dangerous. (I'm not saying flying overgross is never dangerous.) But that is what the documentary portrayed. The FO said he wrote to the FAA in the name of safety - but did he reveal in the documentary the part about getting fired (for being an unsafe pilot himself or who knows what?) and trying to get the captain fired as well? If he had been so truly concerned with this "very dangerous" situation as he says, why didn't he stand up to the captain? Jared is not exactly "my way or the highway" person. And before anyone says maybe the FO was afraid of retribution from company if he walked off from the flight - even if it had escalated to the point where the company got involved, the FO had to know that he would be in the right. Yet he didn't bring up any objections until after the fact when he decided to use this against the captain. He would have never brought up this event (nonevent) to the company or FAA if he himself were not already getting canned - because he knew he would get in trouble as well since he went along with the whole thing.

I feel nothing but contempt and disgust for rats that try to get their fellow pilots fired without first addressing issues with them or pro-standards. When they go straight to the CEO of the company/FAA, their motive is clear. And that's not safety, it's vengeance. It is so transparent that this sleaze was never concerned about "safety" despite what he says in the documentary. His actions at the time of alleged danger speak volumes to the contrary, and his actions afterward speak volumes about his character. Crying safety later merely helped him to achieve his goal. To me, Ben Coats is worse than Roger Cohen, worse than a scab. At least Roger has the excuse that it's his job to talk BS about the regionals. Ben deliberately, wholly and so thoroughly slammed a fellow pilot under the bus.

My point was this scumbag and his half truth "testimony" did not belong in the documentary. What a disappointment that he got his 5 minutes of undeserved fame. Surely they could have found more respectable characters such as the other two former pilots. There are so many practices that Colgan and other regionals engage in (dispatch, scheduling, maintenance, mgmt.) that could've been shed light on. This situation of a captain ghostriding a jumpseater does not even come close in the scale of dangerous actions.

Lastly, the captain paid dearly for his mistake when he lost his certificate and got fired. Why did this FO/producers of the show feel it necessary to rub salt on the wound and smear the captain's actual full name on public TV multiple times. Couldn't they have blurred the name at least? If you're going to single someone out and drag their reputation through mud on TV, at least give them a chance to come on the same show and defend their side of the story. Even Jerry Springer does this.