How does an accident affect airline applications

[MikeHonch]

Hi there,

I am dead in the water at finding any information on this subject but about a year ago I had a serious crash. For context, single engine aircraft-engine failure-forced landing in water. The investigation has yet to conclude. I am in the process of converting my foreign license to EASA and I am extremely concerned that when I do apply for the various airlines that I will basically be turned away immediately upon my application due to the accident. Is there anyone out there who has personally or knows of people who have experience in this field? I am extremely concerned that should I go through the mission of converting to EASA it will be a waist of time and money.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[parkfell]

Until the crash investigation is completed your culpability or otherwise has yet to be established.
If you were totally blameless, then I don’t see how that would adversely impact upon a future career.
If however someone ran out of fuel resulting in a force landing, then any employer would think very carefully about that individual’s judgement…

[100pgnc]

I would wait until the investigation has concluded, then you will know the impact

[+TSRA]

In a past life I interviewed a few pilots who had a mishap and I know of a few others who have been involved in serious incidents or accidents. In two of those cases the pilots involved were culpable.

Without exception each of these pilots found gainful employment at major airlines on their first application.

Why?

Because they were able to demonstrate three things:

1. Their incident or accident was not caused by wilful negligence on their part;
2. They took responsibility for their actions, without an attempt to defer that responsibility; and
3. They learned from the situation, applied those learnings in their own flying, and shared the knowledge.

We all make mistakes. But knowing that is not enough, we have to own our mistakes, even if there are contributing factors outside our control.

So ask yourself: If the incident or accident you refer to was the result of an action or inaction on your part, how are you going to ensure it doesn’t happen again? And in specifics, not just “I’ll keep a closer eye on xyz…” Be critical of yourself so that you can give an honest and real answer. That’s what the recruiter is looking for.

Now, it is likely you will get turned away by some airlines. That is inevitable. But, think of it this way: if that’s how a company treats you when you’re being open and honest, how do you think they’d treat you when you’re flying the line and you make a mistake? The culture probably sucks.

I don’t want to work for a company that will punish me for being human. If I intentionally do something to bend metal then I deserve to be in jail. But if I make a mistake and zig when I should have zagged, well, we all do that. Sometimes we get away with it, and sometimes we don’t.