Originally Posted by
B2N2
Captain got demoted and FO got fired on this one.
Both should have been fired.
From the Chief Pilot's interview last year:
Both pilots are currently off line with full pay. He wanted to ensure that their retraining was good. The airline plans on recreating the night of the incident in future training and it should be complete within the next 15 days. He has elected to downgrade the incident captain as a first officer until the NTSB’s final ruling on the incident.
Do you have more recent information?
Originally Posted by
JammedStab
"When asked about the captain’s proficiency or for areas that could be improved, when compared to others he had flown with, he declined to answer."
"When asked if he had heard of any other crewmembers complain about flying with this captain he declined to answer."
The captain seems to get pretty good reviews in the personnel interviews:
There have been no previous issues with the captain. He recalled that when he was in the simulator he had difficulties in flaring to [sic] high since he was flying bigger airplanes.
...
Flew with incident captain a while ago. He would have been the incident captain’s first officer they did not dual captain together. He would characterize him as a “by the book” individual. The captain would have been one to criticize and he felt comfortable doing so if it was necessary. Very open minded great communication. He enjoyed flying with him. They were never in an emergency or abnormal situation.
He has only flown as a dual captain on maybe 3 times in a year and half, unless it was training. With two captains there was no standard on who was the pilot in command it would be just a discussion to decide at the gate.
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He had flown with the incident captain at Eastern Air Lines, and has known him since flying the DC-10 with Centurion Air Cargo. He characterized the incident captain as friendly, polite, professional, and fair. He further stated that that incident captain was always providing explanations for what he wanted to do. The most recent flight with the incident captain was about a week prior to the incident. He was to fly with the incident captain on the incident flight; however, they were rescheduled because he had family issues and needed to return home. No issues with the captain, always helping and stated “no issues at all.” The incident captain was always helping with the weight and balance.
He felt the captain was one he could ask questions to and considered him a friend as he has known him for about 10 years. He stated that the incident captain was a “pleasure to fly with.” He was “very friendly” and they joked about politics. He has not flown with the incident captain often at Eastern; however, he had flown with him a lot at a previous employer. He flew to Havana and also on the campaign with the captain. He felt comfortable with asking the incident captain questions.
When asked about the captain’s proficiency as a pilot, he felt the captain was a “sharp guy” and always reading and checking. He was very detail oriented when it came to the standard operating procedures.
He felt the captain’s greatest strengths were that he was one of the finest captains he had flown with. The incident captain was one that was preferred to fly with, by first officers, at the previous employer. Her felt that the incident captain flew very well and followed the procedure. When the incident captain needed to take a leg he was very polite and explained why he had made that decision. He had flown 10 hours straight with the captain in the DC-10 and reiterated that he was a pleasure to fly with. In the 737, they did short flights and felt that he could tolerate anyone in that time frame.
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When asked to describe any weaknesses that the incident captain could improve on, he said that he couldn’t recall any. At Eastern, the captain was flying very well. They’ve flown into windy with nice weather and short runways. The captain always took those legs.
There were requirements for which airports that captain must land at, such as special use airports. He did not feel that the incident captain needed to provide a reason why he wanted to fly a certain flight, as the incident captain was a “gentleman” and respectful and friendly. When he had flown with the incident captain it was windy and when there was a short runway, the captain flew those legs. He could not recall if there was a specific wind limit for first officer.
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He has observed captains make minor mistakes such as forgetting to set missed approach altitude, adjusting airspeed for windy conditions, flying the appropriate speed. He has not seen the incident captain make any mistakes since he has been flying at Eastern Air Lines.
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He also stated that he flew with the incident captain June 2, 2016. He was a first officer at the time when he flew with the incident captain; however, they only flew one flight together from Phoenix to Atlanta. He remembered that the captain was the pilot flying and thought that he was a good pilot, open, and very experienced. There were no issues with the flight that he could recall and he felt as though he could have brought up any issues or concerns with the captain when they flew that flight.
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He clarified that he does not consider incident captain to be a friend and does not have a relationship with him. He described the flight as “all good.” The incident captain had him conduct the takeoff and fly most of the leg, and the incident captain landed the aircraft. He described the incident captain as nice. He further stated that the easy part of the flight was to be the PF and PM had a lot of paperwork which the incident captain completed. They transferred controls before descent. He said that the incident captain wanted to do the landing because Georgetown was a shorter than average runway. He didn’t consider it short as he’s landed on a runway less than 4,000 foot long runway in a Boeing 737-SFP25. The weather for the flight to Georgetown was good. There was no rain or wind and the visibility was “okay.” He said that there was good CRM and that incident captain was “open.” He described the incident captain as professional, and a normal guy. He said he was comfortable speaking openly with him. He enjoyed flying with the incident captain and said he was treated fairly, treated well, and felt comfortable. He said the landing at Georgetown was on the touchdown zone and he didn’t remember anything being different from normal. He said that before OPT, everyone [pilots] complained, but he described the incident captain as “not the kind of person to complain.”
https://dms.ntsb.gov/public/59500-59...915/604028.pdf