American Eagle pilot suspended after lying about background

[LNAV VNAV -]

From the NY Post today:



EXCLUSIVE

A pilot for a commuter airline that flies out of all three New York airports was grounded after telling multiple lies about his background to make himself look a poster boy for his industry in a magazine profile, The Post has learned.
Timothy Martins, who flies for American Eagle, told the magazine, published by his union, that he’s an active member of the New Jersey Air National Guard (http://www.nypost.com/t/National_Guard), an FDNY firefighter and a graduate of an aviation school on Long Island.
None of it was true, officials of the agencies said.
The safety of regional commuter carriers and their pilot training came under heavy scrutiny after a Colgan Air (http://www.nypost.com/t/Colgan_Air) jet crashed near Buffalo last February, killing 50 people.



Many of the smaller carriers pay their pilots peanuts, give them insufficient rest time between flights and make them commute thousands of miles.
The story about Martins was written, in part, to counter the bad publicity resulting from the crash and other highly embarrassing incidents — including an airliner overshooting Minneapolis while its pilots chatted about their schedules.
Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Eagle, which is owned by American Airlines (http://www.nypost.com/t/American_Airlines), refused to comment on the allegations.
But she insisted that Martins holds all the required FAA certifications for his job as a first officer. There’s no indication he lied to his employer about his background.
Martins, who has been grounded, did not respond to a call and an email requesting for comment.
The controversy began after the lengthy article appeared in the April edition of the Air Line Pilots Association magazine.
Questions about his claim to be an F-16 pilot in the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard soon began circulating on the Internet.
Major Yvonne Mays, spokeswoman for the Jersey Guard, said it didn’t "have any record of a pilot" named Martins.
The 24-year old, who is from Long Island, also claimed to be a firefighter and paramedic in New York. But an FDNY spokesman said, "He’s not a firefighter, he has not worked for our department."
Dowling College (http://www.nypost.com/t/Dowling_College) confirmed that Martin attended the school, but said he did not graduate and his years of attendance do not correspond to the dates he said he was there.
Jim Hall (http://www.nypost.com/t/Jim_Hall), former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (http://www.nypost.com/t/National_Transportation_Safety_Board) said if Martins lied, it should be of concern to American Eagle.
"Anyone who is charged with a responsibility for transporting the lives of other people safely who is evidently intentionally fabricating or embellishing credentials or falsifying stories, that’s obviously a terrible problem that should be of concern to the airline," he said.
An ALPA spokeswoman declined comment.
Christine Negroni’s Web site is thecrashdetectives.com


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/american_eagle_pilot_suspended_after_soKJR4zQDHGxRYoin99RbI# ixzz0jugBb8x7 (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/american_eagle_pilot_suspended_after_soKJR4zQDHGxRYoin99RbI# ixzz0jugBb8x7)

[Airbubba]

A commuter pilot from Long Island full of B.S.? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you...:)

Anyway, someone claiming to be him makes a mild apology in post #67 of this thread:

EPIC Thread - Fighter Pilot Poser exposed - Baseops Forums - Page 4 (http://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/index.php?/topic/16895-epic-thread-fighter-pilot-poser-exposed/page__st__60)

A lot of healthy discussion in PPRune's sister forum here:

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/military/49320-military-poser-alpa-magazine.html

And, of course, a Facebook fan page:

Welcome to Facebook | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=104582009581003&ref=search&sid=630387637.616574617..1)

[Huck]

Reminds me of The Guvnor....

[Airbubba]

Some unintentional irony, the last line of the puff piece in ALPA magazine:

He is what ALPA stands for. Tim is ALPA.

[p51guy]

"He is what ALPA stands for. Tim is ALPA."

Not any more. What a tool.

[BenThere]

It's easy to jump to conclusions before all the facts are known.

He might have only been trying to pick up the ALPA magazine interviewer.

[protectthehornet]

if a pilot's lips are moving...he's lying

[chimbu warrior]

and make them commute thousands of miles

The pilot's choice, not the airline.........

Maybe he should have just told them he was a piano player in a whorehouse. He might have gotten more respect...

[forget]

The man himself.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/alpa.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/alpa2.jpg

[B-Mod]

Wow. Dude didn't follow Man Rule #3: "If you're going to lie, lie to girls" ;)

[Dundiggin']

Please pass the bucket...........:E

[AnthonyGA]

This doesn't reflect very well on ALPA journalists' research skills, either.

While lying about this sort of thing doesn't necessarily mean that a pilot has lied about safety-critical things, people who lie tend to do it in all sorts of contexts, so if someone lies about this, he has probably lied about a lot of other things, irrespective of their importance to safety.

[bfisk]

So while there's obviously two sides to a story, I have mixed feelings about this whole ordeal. True or not; I fail to see how being a firefighter/paramedic/church-volunteer/fighterpilot makes you a better commercial air transport pilot. To me, that sort of professionalism starts with realising and being open about your own shortcomings rather than positive traits. The question also arises, how on earth does anyone have time to do all of the above things in the 24 hours provided each day? :eek:

[Two's in]

The Delta guy who recommended him must be feeling a bit gun shy right now. It also speaks volumes for the ALPA Code of Ethics Role Model program, who else in aviation has never practiced the "trust, but verify" code?

[GlueBall]

It's just incredible how ALPA editors and writer Jan W. Steenblick suck up such impractical reality dished out by this wonder boy.

-flies American Eagle jet as copilot
-flies F16s
-works as a fire fighter
-works as a paramedic
-works as a Critical Incidence Response Team volunteer
-works as a mentor for new hires at American Eagle
-works in the food pantry of a church as a volunteer
-helps build homes for the Habitat Humanity Program

. . . .Hellooooooooo :ooh:

[fox niner]

Why is he holding a flashlight? it's DAYLIGHT! :ugh:

Perhaps I am missing something here...On the other hand, I am in no way as cool as Tim Martins of course.:hmm:

[Sonny Hammond]

"Many of the smaller carriers pay their pilots peanuts, give them insufficient rest time between flights and make them commute thousands of miles..."


What's that saying about paying peanuts?? What do you get?

[bfisk]

Why is he holding a flashlight? it's DAYLIGHT!

A flashlight can be useful even during daylight conditions to check areas such as wheel wells :ok:

[olster]

spectacularly embarassing

[green granite]

Why is he holding a flashlight? it's DAYLIGHT!

Perhaps he wants to add Scene of Crime Investigator to his job list. :E

[Huck]

He's an idiot, but I myself carry a flashlight on walkarounds in the daytime. I use it to check the wheelwells and the engines, and it helps me spot the door pins when the little windows get grimy.

[stepwilk]

Good lord. Is Jan Steenblik still alive? What a warhorse.

[bloom]

Quote:
and make them commute thousands of miles
The pilot's choice, not the airline.....You are so wrong, so out of line with this comment that I can't post my thoughts. You are as bad, no worse, than the gentleman in question. STFU.

[flyhelico]

if this guy said he was flying the F16. Probably he logged F16 hours in his logbook.

logging fake time is a Federal crime.

His FAA license should be revoked.

[El Lobo Solo]

That's not a torch, it's a laser! He must've gotten it in his F-16 training.

[fjordviking]

It`s a lightsaber he`s holding. He just never came around telling the journo that he`s a volunteer Jedi fighter.

[Farrell]

The amusing thing about this whole story and thread is that the majority of you think that this issue is rare.

It's not.

Chaps all over the world are padding logbooks, adding ratings, experience and God knows what else to their resumés and are walking into jobs that, if I am being honest, they are more than capable of doing, but are indeed breaking to rules to get into.

That's the way it is out there.
Some will be exposed as time goes by; some will go out to pasture having gotten away with it for their entire careers.

Fact.

Farrell

[tightcircuit]

Very true Farrel. Away on detatchment in the US my Flt Eng overheard the lead Nav telling a couple of girls that he was a pilot. Shock and horror (ie mirth) all round. We didn't let on that he was rumbled but the story was leaked at an appropriate moment and it appeared in the speeches when he left the Squadron. Ho Ho.

The industry contains pilots who falsify their past for all sorts of reasons. Some to gain emploment, some to gain respect others with things to hide. The point is though that the aviation community is small. they usualy get caught out at some stage.

TC

[BenThere]

Quote:
and make them commute thousands of miles
The pilot's choice, not the airline.....

You are so wrong, so out of line with this comment that I can't post my thoughts. You are as bad, no worse, than the gentleman in question. STFU.

Bloom,

The statement is not out of line at all, why take such offense?

Pilots choose to commute or not. It may be impractical to move to base for a number of reasons, but when you sign on you know where the bases are, where you live, and what your - not the airline's - options are as to where you will live.

I commuted for a number of years, but now live at base and will never commute again. It was always my choice.

[UAL Furlough]

Ahhh, just got back from leaping a building in a single bound...

I'm faster than a speeding bullet...

I just saved 2 kittens from a drain pipe...

I landed an A-320 in the Hudson, then personally fought the fire, drove the rescue boat and edited the news footage.

On the way home, I fed 7,287 homeless people...

Picked up my F-22 and dropped some bombs on the enemy just 30 meters from the friendly, no collateral damage!!

Will be running on the Republican ticket for president in 2012.

Was hand picked by Joe Biden to man the first mission to Mars....I built the spacecraft and freeze dried the food.

I am a stud among men, having slept with more than 2,000,000 women in my 24 years...way more than Wilt Chamberlain.

I taught Einstein about the theory of relativity.

Matt Damon asked me for advice on the movie "Catch me if you can".

I understand women!!!

The Pope asked me about how to deal with pedophiles in the church.

I used to be a brain surgeon....

Best of all, I'm not a pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!!!

[DA50driver]

Understanding women?? Come on, the rest I can respect. Understanding women......... What a fake you are.

[BIGBAD]

You may use a torch to check wheel wells/inside engine nacelles but I don't remember seeing any on the wingtip of a EMB145 !!!!!

[SeenItAll]

Sorry, Matt wasn't in Catch Me if You Can. It was Leonardo DiCaprio.

[fade to grey]

Apparantly it's the little things that make a difference like "saying your airplane " when handing over control.

Do they not normally bother then ?

[robertbartsch]

Wow - some lawyer will likely bring a suit against the airline for improper dismissal. I assume the odds are at least 50%-50%.

How do we know the article was not fabricated by the writer? ...seems kinda dopey for him to make up stuff for an article; I don't see any financial gain that he could have gotten and, as someone observed earlier, this stuff does not seem to impact is ability to perform his job. If he put this stuff on a job application and it is not true, it might be different, I suppose.

[Worstebroodje]

April Fools anyone? The interview just made me laugh. How could anyone believe that.

[Brenoch]

FWIW there is a 27 odd page long thread on this going on over at FlyingSquadron.com - Military Aviation Portal & Forums (http://www.flyingsquadron.com) to which, Airbubba, posted a link. In that thread they have more or less established, through various means of investigative work including statements from colleagues of his, that he is a pathological liar.

I've read through the whole thing and I can recommend it as one of the most hilariously entertaining reads in a long time. Far better than fiction.

[cheeky cough]

Clowwwwwwnnnnnnn!!!!!!

[GlueBall]

. . . It's good to know that if I am faced with a lay off, that I could just go to the New York Fire Department and be a fireman, or go to the New Jersey Air National Guard and sign up to fly F16s. :ooh:

[silverstrata]

Wow. Dude didn't follow Man Rule #3: "If you're going to lie, lie to girls" :E



AND he also did not follow rule number one: "If you are going to lie, don't put your story onto the front page of a newspaper. What is it with these egocentrics, that they cannot keep it to themselves - do they want to get caught? :ugh:


.

[silverstrata]

and make them commute thousands of miles

The pilot's choice, not the airline.....


Bloom:
You are so wrong, so out of line with this comment that I can't post my thoughts. You are as bad, no worse, than the gentleman in question. STFU.

Well said, Bloom.

Yes, if airlines did not change your base every other year, and refuse to pay any relocation, let alone care about children's education; or go bust with regular monotony, or only employ contract pilots for a season - one might be able to settle and put down a few roots.

But who is going to move to a new location for a flea-bitten outfit that might not last two years and will only order you to move to a new base next year anyway?


.

[jetlinkrod]

And to top it all he is doing the walk around with a flashlight the he is NOT allowed to sue, its the emergency flashlight from the cockpit.

[fdr]

Wonder if T.Martins "logged" multi engine time for "flying formation" in his viper? There is of course a well known gent in HKG who did so from the Singapore airforce... twin engine for a pair... B744 for a section?... probably an AN-225 for an alpha strike. Have a mid air and log multi-crew time too.:ok:

Don't expect much response from the FAA other than license suspension if there is any false documentation. The FAA is limited to forwarding anything of great import to the DoJ to action, and they are not overly interested.

FDR.

[er340790]

Storm in a tea-cup.

LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE!

[jumpseater]

Huck
He's an idiot, but I myself carry a flashlight on walkarounds in the daytime. I use it to check the wheelwells and the engines, and it helps me spot the door pins when the little windows get grimy.

Yeah, but I bet you're 'old fashioned' and press that button that says 'ON' when you use yours ... :ooh:

[corsair]

Isn't it ironic? He's actually a pilot pretending to be someone else. Usually it's the other way around. By all accounts he's a bit of Walter Mitty character. But like all the best Walts he has actually done something interesting, albeit an FO in a commuter airline. Like the former naval officer mentioned on the Jetblast thread on Walts who served honourably but without distinction on a ship during the Falklands war but later turned himself into a Sea Harrier pilot.

There are a lot of people who feel they have to make up stories about their lives.
How do we know the article was not fabricated by the writer? ...seems kinda dopey for him to make up stuff for an article.Actually that makes complete sense. It's almost instinct for people like that to make stuff up. It gets so you actually cannot tell truth from fiction with them. Even the smallest incidents are exaggerated into dramatic tales. The magazine article was a gift from heaven for him.

I know someone like that. She is incredibly plausible. Dangerously so at times. She lies so convincingly that I think at times she actually believes what she's saying. But like all good Walts she is actually highly capable and actually does some good work like travelling to Africa and helping build houses. Except that her role is hugely exaggerated.

Tim will lose his job but will bounce back. They always do.

What I cannot understand is how that article made it to print. Don't they have any critical faculty at all in their editorial department? How could anyone reading that actually believe that a 24 year old could find time to be a commuter pilot, firefighter, paramedic, fighter pilot and still have time to do charity work? Not to mention all the other stuff he finds time to do. They must be feeling pretty stupid now.

[Hotel Charlie]

What I cannot understand is how that article made it to print.
They are journalists, what do you expect?

They must be feeling pretty stupid now.
Wouldn't hold my breath :ok:

[chuks]

I recently contacted a small FBO at a local New England airport, thinking that I might do some flight instruction in my time off from finding a vegetarian cure for cancer, searching for the real truth behind 9/11 and serving as an Archbishop in my own Catholic church. I had a very nice chat with the lady running things but then I said, "Let me show you my certificates, just so you know that I am not making anything up." She laughed at that and said that she had recently had someone show up with mega-qualifications in the oral presentation, way better than mine but no actual certificates in strict point of fact! Just another Walt, I guess.

We once knew a fellow who was flying a Citation with lots and lots of hours on type. Then the contractee came up with a new requirement, everyone to show the actual hours logged instead of just self-certifying. It is the darndest thing but by the time he was able to get back home to pick up his logbooks someone had broken into his house and stolen them! Nothing else taken, just his logbooks...

There was the guy I flew with who told me about all the times he would go in and out of Kigali, Rwanda with Sabena in the 707. Wow! He forgot to tell me that was when he was still working as a flight attendant, though, before he got his pilot's licence...

Just as on the X Files, "The truth is out there," and it usually will come around to bite you in a place that will not make you blind!

[ONTPax]

Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said if Martins lied, it should be of concern to American Eagle.

Is he implying that corporations have scruples? Are we supposed to believe in Peter Pan and the Easter Bunny as well? :ugh:

[protectthehornet]

somone mentioned not getting paid relocation etc.

back when the job ws something really good:

paid relocation/moves
if your house wouldn't sell for a reasonable price in a reasonable time, the airline bought the house from you.

I moved once on the airline...boxed up my stuff for me...stored it...really first class.

not now boys and girls


its those regionals and low cost carriers that ruined the job.

[Hotel Charlie]

its those regionals and low cost carriers that ruined the job.

I beg to differ! It's the guys and gals that will do anything to fly for a living that are ruining the job!
They are thinking: OK I'll put up with lousy t/c now and build hours so that I can get the "real" paid job later... Guess what! It ain't gonna happen!! Cause you flying for peanuts now is undermining the "next" level and the decent paid job went bust :{

[68+iou1]

It all starts when pilot associations and unions neglect GA!
They are guilty of only looking after their airline mates.
This leads to...............................................the cluster Fu*k we have now!

[NG_Kaptain]

There was the guy I flew with who told me about all the times he would go in and out of Kigali, Rwanda with Sabena in the 707. Wow! He forgot to tell me that was when he was still working as a flight attendant, though, before he got his pilot's licence...

Reminds me of a guy in my previous company who flew Daks, Viscounts, 727's, 707's and L10's for us but used to boast about his time on the Comet when he was with BOAC, except he was a steward with BOAC on he Comet. Why bother? He had a really respectable career with us.

[johns7022]

To summarize this thread:

- That airlines will hire anybody, and not make a few phone calls to check someone out.

- That airline pilots are not shocked that thier cohorts are liars and misrepresenting their credentials.

[fmgc]

I disagree that he may well still be able to do the job well even though he is an outrageous liar.

An Airline needs to be able to trust its Captains. If I was an employer and knew an FO was a liar then I would not put them into the LHS.

Also pathological lying is a major personality fault that really should exclude somebody from being allowed to hold a licence.