Originally Posted by
aterpster
Whether a man or woman, this type of conduct renders a pilot unfit to be in our profession. I know, she needs help, and help she should get. Once fit again, she should be looking for a non-aviation profession.
I'm guessing she'll get a few weeks off with pay to sort out her 'life issues'. Then she will return to the line unless the feds somehow get involved and yank her medical in the post Germanwings era.
In other cases of bad judgment and public misbehavior, I've seen some of the familiar cards played as a mitigation strategy. United is by all accounts a progressive workplace and in addition to ALPA, she will probably have one or two demographic advocacy groups on her side.
It's very hard to get fired as a union pilot for a major U.S. airline these days. A few people do succeed though.
An account of the episode from the Austin, Texas newspaper:
Pilot removed from Austin flight after reports of strange behavior
Nicole Barrios Austin Community Newspapers Staff
10:11 p.m Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017 Local News
A United Airlines pilot was removed from an Austin to San Francisco flight Saturday evening, a spokesman for United Airlines confirmed.
United Airlines spokesman Charlie Hobart confirmed that the pilot was removed from United Airlines Flight 455.
“We hold our employees to the highest standards and we removed that pilot from that flight,” he said. “We brought in a new crew and they operated that flight.”
The pilot boarded the flight dressed in regular clothes, he confirmed.
According to multiple reports on Twitter from passengers, the pilot went on a “rant” about her divorce and the presidential election, and also began crying.
Randy Reiss, a passenger on the flight, tweeted about the flight and described the situation as scary. On Twitter, Reiss said the pilot told those on board that she was going through a divorce and began crying during the incident.
Reiss told the Statesman via Twitter that he believed the pilot was not in “the mental space today to take that on.”
A video uploaded to YouTube today appears to show a portion of what the pilot said to passengers.
In the video, the pilot is seen saying: “Don’t worry, I’m going to let my co-pilot fly it (the airplane). He’s a man,” she said.
“If you don’t feel safe, get off the airplane. But otherwise, we can go,” the pilot told passengers over the intercom.
After that comment, a man in the video appears to get up and request to get off of the airplane.
The pilot is then seen asking passengers if she offended them.
The flight was scheduled to depart Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 5:02 p.m., according to KVUE News.
The flight’s departure was delayed for about two hours due to the incident, Hobart said.
“We removed her from the flight, (and) we’re going to discuss this matter with her,” he said. “We were looking out for our customers to get them to where they needed to be.”
Pilot removed from Austin flight after reports of strange behavior