The SKW pilot in question was not fired for calling in fatigued. He was fired for allegedly writing profanity re. the RCP on a bulletin board in the crew room (twice).

He won the lawsuit because the company did not adequately prove that he was the one who wrote the profanity, so the company should not have fired him on circumstantial evidence.

Like most stories, there are two sides to this one. The pilot in question was not renowned for being a great guy to fly with or being easy to get along with, and apparently had a personal conflict with the RCP (who was also not known for being a great guy who was easy to get along with).

The fatigue call was just one event in a series of issues between these two guys. Let's not make this into something it's not.

 

You guys are jumping to conclusions. The FAA isn't (potentially) interested in the fact that he called his crew "fatigued".

They're interested because he flew a few days after having an operation, and not being cleared by an AME for his fitness or the effect of drugs that he was subject to.

In this case, I'm not sure what any union could do besides placebo. He flew first, before calling in fatigued (for his whole crew).

Again, he was not fired for calling in "fatigued" on the overnight (standup) trip. That issue actually happened months before the profane graffiti on the wall issue, which was the direct reason he was fired.

The airline is also considering appealing the decision, mostly because the fired pilot claimed that SkyWest was unsafe, and that made the front page of the Salt Lake City newspaper. I told our company attorney that I felt that would cause a HUGE unsettling amongst pilot workforce. Let it be. Let's get the pilot working again, as I'm confident he won't be doing some of the things that got him in trouble to begin with, again.

Also, I'd hope that the former CP is never again in a supervisory position of any pilot at our company.

 

Last night my crew and I blocked out at the exact last possible minute to be legal for a 16 hour duty day. Both FAs were feeling pretty tired (it was 1 in the morning) so each of them called crew support. They were threatened with occurrences (SKW version of a slap on the wrist, if FAs get 8 in a year they get fired) if they didn't continue the trip. Both said they didn't want to fly but then got scared for their jobs so ended up doing it. I definitely wasn't 100% and neither was the captain, and after working for 14+ hours how could anybody expect you to be?

I was absolutely astounded at the attitude of crew support and the UAL rampers. Safety was defintely not anywhere near the top of those poeple's priorities last night.

And TF should've been fired for his inability to keep his personal vendettas out of the cheif pilot office.

 

Skywest claimed they fired Don because he denied writing the profane graffiti. The federal judge ruled that Don was fired because there was a causal nexus between his fatigue call and his termination. Now the company wants to appeal. Are they going to argue that Don wasn't fit for duty? What is it that Don did that you're confident he won't be doing again?

 

After reading the Federal Judge's opinion on this case, it is quite evident that your take on the situation is vastly different than his. The Federal Judge's decision says the profanity on the bulletin board is NOT the reason the Captain was fired. The Chief Pilot (TF) "Monday Morning Quarterbacked" the fatigue call, gave Captain a week off with no pay for discipline, Captain requested a review board to revisit the discipline, review board agreed with Captain and said TF over-reacted and gave the Captain his back pay over issue. Review Board advised TF to only issue Captain a letter in file. Upon recieving letter, Captain surreptitiously recorded conversation with TF. On the recording TF was heard DEMANDING the Captain admit he was wrong in calling in fatigue. Captain refused to admit culpability in fatigue call. Weeks later the graffiti on the bulletin board surfaced. TF claimed that DD (Captain) had written the infamous Z, of which many former military personnel write their Z with a line through the middle. DD (Captain) denied writing, TF fired him for "lying" about writing the graffiti.

Judge heard the evidence and raised the BS flag on Capt getting fired for writing the graffiti. He proclaimed TF "non-credible" (read liar) and this issue was really about Captain DD calling in fatigued and TF not agreeing with the call.

 

And you SKYW guys dont need ALPA huh?

 

Oh yeah...we do...'cause ALPA just got two wrongfully-fired TSA Pilots their jobs back after 7 years!! ALPA is certainly the end of all things wrong!

 

You must have been one that voted no.

 

Uh...yeah dude.

 

Typical SKYW attitude..