Safety Question

[Sparrow 8]

Hi All,
I am an aspiring novelist and one of my aspiring characters is an airline pilot. One of the plot twists is to have them involved (as an FO) in an in-flight event (currently leading towards inadvertent crew error that results in emergency landing/possible damage to aircraft). I have a good grasp on the technical/piloting aspects but in the interests of realism, what happens once they are on the ground? Are they restricted from flight? Do they refuse to talk to anyone unless the union is present, etc.? What is the interplay between the airline/TSB investigations?
Any assistance (open forum or PM) would be greatly appreciated.
Sparrow

[parabellum]

Most companies have a clause in their employment contracts that forbid employees to talk to the press without prior company approval, (usually refused, PR matters dealt with by management).

The incident, by various channels, Ops. Engineering, Crewing, Traffic etc. will quickly become known to the duty manager of the day/night and the rest of management fairly quickly after that.

The captain will probably be required to submit an Occurrence Report, depending on the seriousness of the incident, airline management may stand the crew down immediately and instigate an enquiry.

What happens to the crew will depend on the results of the enquiry and once stood down, if members of a union, then they will be wise to contact the union and it is possible the company union rep. will contact the pilots even before they contact him.

That is just a start, there will be plenty more to come I expect.!;)

[Sparrow 8]

Thanks...
More questions...
What does the crew do once they are stood down? Admin things or wait at home? And how long do enquiries normally take?

[4Greens]

Wait at home. Unless they have other company non flying duties. It would then be up to the individual, medical and management people to decide.

[Sparrow 8]

That makes sense... so is the waiting with pay or without? Even if it is a long investigation? (I have modeled the event after the Air Transat fuel deal over the Atlantic.) And as to the investigation... the first interview is with the union rep present... but are there subsequent interviews? (These may sound silly but I want to get the pilot perspective right.)

[kenparry]

The pay will depend on the employment contract. A decent company (not many left among airlines now), you will still be paid. Interviews etc - it depends on how complex the issue is, so you can make up the scenario as you go.

[Piltdown Man]

Crew error resulting in damage? Mmmm, I'd be careful here. I can foresee an unpleasant landing resulting in damage but being realistic, Sod's law is more likely to occur, ie. an en-expected shredded tyre, brake failure, toilet pump motor failure (real life comes up with some beautiful scenarios, just read a few accident/incident reports).

As for what happens after a prang, it depends who your characters are working for. With my company I'll tell them what happened, if at all possible, and not worry about the consequences. They'll not expect me to speak to the media and I'll go out of my way to avoid them, unless instructed otherwise. Even then, they'll probably get a rather trite comment to the effect of "I'm glad it's all over and I'm really looking forward to going home".

As for the location of the prang, well I if end up in Greece, Spain, Italy I won't give any government official the steam off my pee unless I have heavyweight legal protection. I'll not even confirm my name. In one of these countries I'd also expect to be questioned by some flatfoot from the police or "Department of Justice" who is looking to nail somebody for the occurrence. In the UK, Netherlands, Scandinavia etc., I'll invite the investigators round for a cup of tea (or coffee if they prefer). Again, the more civilised the country, the more advocates you could take.

It is normal practice for crews to be stood down for a period (say, up to four weeks) following an accident to allow them to give witness statements and be interviewed by the investigators. With regards to the third world practices undertaken by the countries mentioned above, I'd expect that period to be in jail. But in more civilised countries, this would be in a reasonable hotel, at the company's expense until they could position you home. Then, at home you would still be available for interviews as long at the authorities and company require. But when "not required but available", I'd expect to be down the pub, doing DIY or fishing. In a good company you might also expect a call from a "buddy" to make sure that you are OK and ready to start line flying. If you were not, this might be the time for a bit of "tea & sympathy". Again, for a good company you would still expect to be paid.

Eventually, once you have made your statements and are no longer required, you would be released back on line probably following a session or two in the simulator and some line training.

PM