It seems at times there are certain pilots for whom the absolute intention by their Flight Ops/whoever is that THEY WILL NEVER COME BACK. In BA we had the dreadful case of Capt. Stuart Clapson. A few minor transgressions over the years, insists on smoking on the flight deck, hads the incident with the mentally unstable woman at Gatwick screaming that a passenger has a bomb (he hadn't). Disrupted a departure twice, after returning to the gate twice, Stuart made, shall we say, an undiplomatic PA. Certain managerial individuals took this as an opportunity to discipline an individual who had evidently rubbed them up the wrong way. In succession, I believe it was docking seniority/appeal/demotion to co-pilot/appeal/termination/appeal. Long drawn out stressful experience. Unfortunately Stuart suffered a stress related death after BA was ordered to reinstate. We were awaiting the outcome with fascination. I gather BA was determined to do as in this case ignore the tribunal and willingly pay the paltry compensation for the loss of ones career. It is incredible and to our shame British Law is as toothless as it is in these matters for us when I read that British law is to be changed to increase the penalty for having counterfeit goods (maybe just simple Far East software?) to 10 YEARS ! A court order for reinstatement should be just that- reinstatement. If the law is to be taken seriously, how can companies flout it like this?- I think a lot of us would like to know!
As a matter of interest, the court cases against Stuart were disgraceful. The evidence presented was so laughable it was actually tragic. One of our senior managers was sitting in a British High Court spouting about how Stuart had 'damaged a boat 20 years before', they dragged up a pilot hating Purser who gave evidence that Stuart was so 'beside himself he stumbled when he went downstairs to see the woman involved and see why she was creating such a scene and accusing an innocent party' (the moral there is if you stumble in such a situation, retreat to the F/D and then make another gracious exit!). The evidence was rejected by the Court. The pilot manager left for another airline shortly thereafter. The others appear to have gotten away with it, though morally they share responsibility for taking the father of a 9 year old away.
A sad saga- I have gone into it in detail because it shows nothing has changed- British aviation disciplinary procedures STINK, and it is still ongoing. If any fine detail is incorrect- I apologise- I have the full Employment Tribunal report available- it makes horrifying reading when you understand the limited intellect of who can be sitting in judgement over you!
(and I haven't even touched on the saga of BA's treatment of Captain Chris Lankey............)
Last edited by Notso Fantastic; 15th July 2002 at 08:36.