Would Be Defensible If...
... it were a pilot's market for employment instead of an airline's market for employment.
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The guy is prolly a good pilot - he would have been weeded out or had a major incident / accident under his belt by now if he weren't...
But with so many good, 100% legit pilots out of work at the moment, I hope they give him a stiff penalty.
He's been occupying a seat which should have been filled with someone who not only wanted to be a pro pilot (as he did) but who had planned his / her life around it and took the significant, costly, sometimes-socially-punitive steps to make his / her career a reality.
Book 'im, Danno!