>>"They indicate that at the time of the accident, Sclair was undergoing a company-mandated multi-leg "line check," or supervised evaluation, after deviating from an assigned altitude over England a month earlier.
The report reveals that Sclair, with FedEx since 1996, had received two previous unsatisfactory proficiency ratings on MD 11s in 1999 and 2001, but had received additional training and received satisfactory ratings both times.
Interviews the NTSB did with an unidentified FedEx pilot indicated that she had been late to work three out of 10 times in August and had received an advisory letter from company officials on Dec. 8 warning against tardiness. In 1994, an unidentified previous employer indicated unsatisfactory proficiency ratings that year were the result of Sclair's "generally poor airmanship"<<
In fairness to Ms. Sclair, she may have been hired at a much lower experience level than her male colleagues to promote gender diversity, a common practice in the U.S. aviation workplace. A few "unsatisfactory proficiency ratings" from a previous employer would normally keep a non-diverse male applicant from being hired at a major carrier, even a cargo operator like FedEx. U.S. airlines have been required to do background checks including training information for the past several years.