Mr Q it depends on what outcome CX wants from this. Sacking and demoting two pilots who had moderately good standing amongst the pilot workforce, (49ers star chamber excepted) plays into the hands of personnel department, ruled over by Catbert who it is rumoured despises pilots. And remember it was he who was quoted as saying, when a DFO defended the recruitment process, that "I will be the one who decides who is hired or fired in this airline."
Anything that can denigrate the pilot workforce is grist to the personnel mill. To show that they can sack a pilot manager shows that they can overrule any moderation attempt that was applied from Flight Operations. To quote the phrase, the British hang their Captains from their own yard arm, "Pour encourage les autres."
Denigration and depressive control of the pilots is especially important in the next few months as management will need to dismiss the current AOA negotiations and impose a new conditions of service.
That Corporate Safety instigated the investigation in the first place is extremely worrying, and may affect the accuracy of the data that they receive over the next few years. By their actions on this incident they have shown perhaps that they are not the impartial safety team that they have always claimed to be. They have shown that they may have a political agenda.
We operate in Hong Kong. Live with it. If the board of CX want CAD to investigate and hang the guy, they will encourage them to do so. If they do not want it so, they will spin it to their advantage.
Most people assume that FAA investigations of Boeing aircraft are under the control of Boeing. If they do not want an investigation, it will not happen. It is unlikely that Boeing want this to go further, so it should be assumed that after a few more college shootings this story will drop to the spike.
FWIW
Last edited by moosp; 2nd Mar 2008 at 21:27.