Psychologists for GF FOs and Cadets
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Further to this story about GulfAir now utilising psychologists to assess the "suitability" of their current aircrew (you might be aware that one experienced captain [at least] has already been grounded for some weeks as a prelude to dismissal for "unsuitability"). As I know only too well, the Arabs are likely to use this novel weapon as an instrument of threat and repression. They have just the psyche for that. I saw it used in the Royal Saudi Air Force against both expats and Arabs who were not toeing the party-line (too much Western education, contact and identification).
Psychologists have been using the remunerative area of "outplacement" for years as a real money-spinner (particularly when their background retainer contract with the companies they serve is in reality to eliminate unwanted employees - get them to go quietly with just the right amount of guilt and stigma that they won't make a fuss). It's a hard one to fight when a chappie with a lot of letters after his name suddenly ups and says, after a battery of tests, that Captain XXX is not psychologically suited to airline aviation (despite his many thousands of hours). How can Captain XXX fight that sort of denunciation? No court in the land would uphold unfair dismissal in the face of such a damning professional opinion. I think we might see this next in Singapore Airlines where there are many known dissident expats that SIA is trying to eliminate. I have myself seen a pilot friend eliminated by the RAAF. He became an "embarrassment" after he caught his wife in bed with her boss, beat up the guy and broke his wife's arm in the melee. The system decided to outplace him. Of course he was grounded first and then increasingly alienated via proven processes. He's now with CASA (or was when last heard of). It was pathetically McCarthyist and left people in the Squadron who were in the know both depressed and very fearful that they could easily be dealt with in a similar fashion - if they stuck their heads above the parapet.
So far this type of weapon has not been used widely against pilots but with the increase in pilot suicides, airborna and non-flying, it may well prove to be in future (and so become yet another stressor for aircrews). Because of the social stigma, many pilots would simply choose to go quietly rather than have their licences pulled (because the logical extension of the threat is that the company would arrange for the FAA, CAA etc etc to become aware of the psychologist's learned finding). Once the regulator found out, do you think that they would fail to follow through? Not likely? Ask Skydrifter perhaps.
From what I'm hearing, this is happening, and not just in GF - but it's being kept fairly quiet and mostly done with great discretion and claimed integrity - behind closed doors. It may be hard to gather statistics on. IMHO it is likely to create many more problems than it would ever solve (or avoid). Gulfair seems to be taking great pride in the fact that they are "breaking new ground". That's an intriguingly novel philosophy - avoiding accidents by breaking new ground.
Psychologists have been using the remunerative area of "outplacement" for years as a real money-spinner (particularly when their background retainer contract with the companies they serve is in reality to eliminate unwanted employees - get them to go quietly with just the right amount of guilt and stigma that they won't make a fuss). It's a hard one to fight when a chappie with a lot of letters after his name suddenly ups and says, after a battery of tests, that Captain XXX is not psychologically suited to airline aviation (despite his many thousands of hours). How can Captain XXX fight that sort of denunciation? No court in the land would uphold unfair dismissal in the face of such a damning professional opinion. I think we might see this next in Singapore Airlines where there are many known dissident expats that SIA is trying to eliminate. I have myself seen a pilot friend eliminated by the RAAF. He became an "embarrassment" after he caught his wife in bed with her boss, beat up the guy and broke his wife's arm in the melee. The system decided to outplace him. Of course he was grounded first and then increasingly alienated via proven processes. He's now with CASA (or was when last heard of). It was pathetically McCarthyist and left people in the Squadron who were in the know both depressed and very fearful that they could easily be dealt with in a similar fashion - if they stuck their heads above the parapet.
So far this type of weapon has not been used widely against pilots but with the increase in pilot suicides, airborna and non-flying, it may well prove to be in future (and so become yet another stressor for aircrews). Because of the social stigma, many pilots would simply choose to go quietly rather than have their licences pulled (because the logical extension of the threat is that the company would arrange for the FAA, CAA etc etc to become aware of the psychologist's learned finding). Once the regulator found out, do you think that they would fail to follow through? Not likely? Ask Skydrifter perhaps.
From what I'm hearing, this is happening, and not just in GF - but it's being kept fairly quiet and mostly done with great discretion and claimed integrity - behind closed doors. It may be hard to gather statistics on. IMHO it is likely to create many more problems than it would ever solve (or avoid). Gulfair seems to be taking great pride in the fact that they are "breaking new ground". That's an intriguingly novel philosophy - avoiding accidents by breaking new ground.
