Did the Pilots sign a Training Contract....offer up a Bond...what were the requirements for theiraccepting training? If the company provided them training and they absconded in violation of a contract....take them to court. Otherwise...whose fault is it if they exercise their right to choose their employer. I can assure you Bristow did not train these guys out the sheer goodness of the company heart. They did so as it necessary.
The "Dig" was at some of the absolutely repugnant conduct by a couple of the Brits that was a Racist as anything heard of during the bad dark days of Mississippi and the Bull Connor reign in Montgomery.
The Nigerians were treated poorly for years by the Brits in charge.
There are several who confided in me as well as the direct observations I had. On one occasion I asked a young Nigerian Co-pilot to step outside the Ops Manager's office while I told the Ops Manager just exactly how offensive I found him and his comments to my Nigerian friend to be. The guy's wife was even more blatent in her well announced views about Nigerians in the BRC. Seeing her shaking the same fellow's hand that very night was much fun....she looked like a Jackass eating bumble bees...especially as he held her hand with both of his and went on and on how glad he was to make her acquaintance....all the while not releasing the Queenly hand.
If you had any history with me and Bristow...you would not say what you did. The "old" Bristow was a much different place than what existed in Lagos for many years.
Despite all the years....conduct as seen by some there in Lagos is never excusable...and worthy of criticism when appropriate.
It was "Bull ****" and a "Major Problem" then....and still is....suggesting my criticism is out of order ignores the reality of what happened. If you have been around a while you can remember the days when the only Nigerians welcome in the Company BRC were serving staff, cooks, drivers, and bar tenders....and that was local company policy.
Was it not only after the boys in Lafayette now Houston took over did things really begin to change for the Nigerians? I guess that was just a mere coincidence.