New Chief Pilot
 

Better learn another first name...

New System Chief???

Yep. Skullduggery went down. Looks like soft landing spot was found.

Could it be “don’t call me Larry”?

Shirley they will announce it soon. :D

We can only hope so, at least he’d be outta SFO.

"Promoted" from system Chief pilot to Pilot in charge of new hires.

Well earned promotion. Nice company spin.

That's all I have to say about that!

Well, the last system CP is now the ORD CP so you could argue she has moved on to a more important job than he did. ;)

So what’s the backstory then?

Always found Bebe to be a straight shooter and an all around good Pilot advocate.

What changed?

If it's "Larry," duck and cover. No one will be safe! :eek:

Maybe the thinking is promote him to where he can't do any more damage.

Honest question: has he failed to back you or your crew when needed?

Uh...yes. Demonstrated many times. He is also very biased against New hires. Don't know why. He has fired a few. Not that those who got fired shouldn't have been, but that's his first move.

You are guilty until proven innocent....of almost anything.

Ok. Not the impression I’ve gotten, but there’s always time. It just seems that most guys I’ve flown with that have a negative perception of L don’t have a first hand experience to corroborate their contempt.

I do and he was just as bad when he was in LA. Has no business being staffed in a management position.

I would’ve thought you’d love him if he’s firing all these insubordinate Skywest new hires ;)

I’ve never been disciplined by Larry, but I have given him several opportunities to be a chief pilot and support the operation. He’s failed miserably on each occasion.

For me, it’s not his distant and disaffected personality. It’s his inability to provide any real measure of leadership and support for pilots based in SFO. For someone in his position, that is contemptible.

Lin was my favorite person at any airline.

This........................

Did anyone ever find out who turned her in?

I did enjoy that portion of his persona but it doesn't outweigh all the rest. :D

Was thinking the same thing!!!

Few years ago I'm 3 months in and just got to SFO. No idea who Sir Lawrence is. I am in line @ Pete's coffee and I see this guy staring me down. He's in front of me. No idea who he is. I see some ID hanging but meh who knows. I start some small talk I'm brand new to UA bla bla. He never once introduced himself until I asked "Do you work for UA" I'm the Chief pilot he says LOL.

He never said welcome. Never said glad to have you. Hey what's your background. Do you need any help. Nothing zip nada! He did not offer to buy this new guy coffee either. That's all I needed to know about Larry the cable guy.

Still not tracking what happened here...

I do. He would have fit in well with The Friends of Fred that used to run this place. That ain’t a complement...

Other than firing some new hires that apparently deserved it, can I get some examples of his failed leadership?
Only because I'm curious. I haven't heard a single captain say they care for him, yet no one really says specifically what he's done. Or hasn't done.

I don't know the man.

Sometimes leaders "get it" and sometimes they don't. You may not get the smoking gun you seek, but if Captains don't trust him and new hires are afraid of him then he's not a good ambassador for the company.

The CP's are the "link" between front line pilots and management. if he doesn't represent the culture that management wants to convey then he's ineffective. if he's ineffective then he (more than likely) is creating work for management instead of relieving that burden.

Management culture/leadership culture is made up largely of intangibles. However, trust is the most important factor for me. If I don't trust a person, then I won't go to him or her on issues I might need advice on, or issues that are sensitive, or issues where I made a mistake. Not worth the risk.

You can't improve as professional pilot if you can't go to your boss with an issue. No one should go to their boss with an issue if you can't trust him.

That's my take...

I agree strongly. I'd bet my career on Fabien, Ernie or Alberto doing the right thing, every single time. Bebe is rock-solid too.

I don't get that vibe from Captain Ellis.

Just to add color to the conversation, I'll share a quick anecdote of a NY CP who seems to me similar to Larry.

I was on a trip JFK - LAX - JFK. I got a call my Mom had been in an accident. I called JFK and no answer so I called the FODM and he said just call the crew desk and use sick time and it will work out. So I called the crew desk, said I'm sick and went to my Mom's hospital bedside. Then I got a call from the CP and all he said was: "You called in sick on a trip and that has raised a ton of red flags. You better have a damn good reason." He left that as a voicemail. I called him immediately and explained and he never apologized or gave me back the sick time.

And, that's not my only Spielman story.

Some Chief Pilots are not nice, and all I need to know about Larry is he fired Lin, the best employee United ever had.

Additional thread drift. Latest Larry failure. Parking in SFO for pilots for at least a decade has been problematic with the airport.

Instead of working to solve the problem Larry does this, from ALPA:

Ladies and Gentlemen of C34,

Recently we received the following from the Flight Office:

"We have received a few complaints that there are a few campers in Lot C taking up more than one spot, we are not sure if they belong to pilots. The Airport Authority is aware and they will tow and impound any camper/recreational vehicle in that Lot."

We reached out to the Flight Office for clarification and were told that the complaints came from fellow pilots, prompting the Flight Office to contact the Airport Authority instead of reaching out to the vehicle owners or putting out a CCS message.

We have informed the Flight Office that the proposal to begin ticketing and towing larger vehicles is disappointing and problematic for several reasons.

First, the vehicle mix in the parking lot has been consistent for years. Second, a quick loop around the lot makes it evident that, ever since the spaces were shrunk a couple of years ago, full-size pickup trucks no longer fit in the majority of spots. Third, having vehicles towed and impounded without warning is unreasonable.

We are gathering information and investigating options to preserve parking privileges for larger vehicles. Please advise us immediately if you're contacted by the Flight Office regarding your parked vehicle or if your vehicle is towed and impounded. Also please feel free to contact us to provide details of the history of your use of SFO parking with a larger vehicle.

In Unity,

Instead of fixing the problem, Larry thinks we should just drive smaller cars?

I am surprised by your last sentence. My experience with Bo has always been supportive and positive. You can’t please everyone though.

I think he means Larry, not Bo. Both last names are Ellis

Fabian is everything a CP is supposed to be and more. When the office staff, who have been there forever, speak highly of him you know he is doing it right.

That helps. I only had only heard him referred to as “Larry” thanks for clearing that up!

Larry Ellis, not Bo.

Bo easily fits onto that list of pilot advocates.

You do realize HR legal fired her?

Come on man, Who’s the one who turned her into HR?

I’d like to know who turned her into Lawrence? Why would they not try and resolve it like adults without involving the company.

Devils advocate: what would you do if you were CP and said pilot said “FYI the company may be named in a lawsuit due to a wreck that involved a support rep” ?

Well I’d certainly do as much as I could to prevent anyone from losing their job. Which is exactly what said POS didn’t do.

How do you know he didn’t? I ask sincerely. I, like most, was curious about what went down and to this date are short on details. It details of how things went down seem to be a state secret.

All I have as a point of reference was Alma’s and Maria’s resolute defense of Lawrence up to the day they left. I’d imagine they knew him better than most of us casual observers of SFO ops.