I've heard of a couple of guys having their hands swiped as they were about to press a wrong button,.....but being hit in the face?..are you serious?

 

When dealing with a "check airman" you should be dealing with a highly professional and very standard individual. If they are resorting to physical violence or even oral abuse he should be reported and be stripped on his/her check airman status. I would never encourage fighting in the cockpit but I don't know how to react if someone purposely hit me in the cockpit. Not cool either way. Call your ALPA rep and get in touch with your union part of professional standards.

 

My friend never reported it, because after the sim sessions this guy was going to be the check airmen as well, and he didn't want to start drama that may affect the checkride. I told him if this really happened than he needs to report it and should probably take legal action. In then end he was failed by this same guy. (Not sure how legal action against an airline that hired you looks to other airlines you are trying to get hired by....) I know there are those that are waving the BS flag on this one, but I am pretty sure he is telling the truth.

 

Erm...if you already made up your mind that the story is true...why did you start the thread? To find out if it's a normal occurrence? I would hope that you can figure out that it's not.

 

Maybe I should have said, "Does this happen a lot?" I realize this is not normal in the real world....The aviation field does have a lot of non-standard practices. Plus I wondered if anyone else had this problem at TSA with the same guy. Also I wondered what advice to give my friend.

 

Compared to what?! Aviation is actually one of the most standard fields there is. I can't think of any other situation where 2 people, having never met, can be thrown into a situation where they have to trust each other implicitly. The only way to make that happen safely (and I think you would have a hard time arguing that aviation is unsafe) is to make sure everyone is on the same page with standardization.

I have to agree with most of the other posters here. I would hope your friend has the cajones to stand up for himself, especially when an instructor like that is so far out of line. It's amazing what people will put up with in this field all in the name of pursuing the dream. What if an econ professor in college had slapped you after handing back a midterm? Would you (or your friend) sit there and take it? Would you at least say something? Would you slap that professor back? So you want some advice for your friend? Tell him to grow a pair. You could also recommend that he run far far away from TSA.

 

I agree totally. I don't think I could have sat there and taken it. I didn't think it was normal at all, I had never heard of anything like it. I just wanted to ask on here to see if I was just completely naive.

Also I agree with the previous poster saying this is one of the most standard industries, I do think that the hiring process and training class are definitely not the norm when compared to other industries. (Not saying that other specialized training isn't similiar, but definitely not the majority.)

So now that he was failed out of ground school on the last sim, does he speak up now? Or does he forget about it since it may look like he is trying to retaliate against the person who failed him, and the airline itself? Would doing so affect his chances at the next airline he tries for?

There was another witness to all this, (his sim partner and fellow CFI from the same place we work) but I don't know as to his willingness to vouch for the situation do to his new employment at TSA.... Thoughts?

 

A guy at my flight school apparently had that happen to him....

 

I think your friend may exaggerate things. I suppose he had all the worse students, they all tried to kill him and he is in the 777 transition class at Alaska...

 

Meow how did you know? (sorry had to throw that in after seeing your avatar...)