BA pilot grounded over undisclosed anger
 

Looks like he upset someone.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ory-anger.html

You mean angered someone.

The moral police are everywhere.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-Shanghai.html

The Staines air disaster was the result of the captain’s emotional state.Anger is an emotion that has no place in any aircraft and that applies to passengers and crew.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...ays_Flight_548

I don’t believe that was ever proven hence the push for the introduction of CVRs.

I know this is a rumour forum but your statement comes across as a fact rather than a supposition albeit a not unreasonable one.

It's a bit unclear as to whether he has failed anger management courses, or this is just the GP's opinion. To what degree does he just "lash out"? I'm sure we have all been angry at times.

I have met odd individuals during my career that seemed to get more wound up than others over events at work that they had little to no control over. Some ran between aircraft to try and recover the schedule and others went a shade of puce when there were technical defects; there was an underlying current of anger I suppose. These days people can get into a spiral of doom with too much echo-chamber use of social media reinforcing concerns that are mostly of little real impact or even imaginary.

It does seem that the occasional undesirable personality slips through the psychometric net, the “you looking at my girfriend!?” type who could start a fight in an empty room. The level-headed majority end up treading lightly around them - for me the acid test is how much I have to run through what I’m going to say to them in advance of saying it, in case it contains something that might trigger them.

Sudden twang

Well done for adding a correction/caution to that.
it was speculated that the Captains state of mind influenced what happened but it was never proven . Essentially he had a row in the crew room before departure but that was all that could be proven. As you point out CVRs are there largely because of this tragic incident

I had a long career with BA and, as a junior co-pilot, took full advantage of my "apprenticeship" to learn from the senior flight crew I worked with. The majority were level-headed professionals only too glad to pass on their experience...

However :rolleyes: There were a couple of old school skippers who you had to watch youself with. Shouting matches with the ground staff were always a clue as to how our day was going to turn out. The good side of these poor behaviours was I very quickly learned what worked and what didn't...

Sounds like a cabin crew with an axe to grind and there are literally thousands in BA.

Why go straight to the CAA? Why make a conspiracy theory like claim that records have been removed? Why go to the DM of all “newspapers”?

Sounds like it’s a character assassination of a pilot who stood up to a BA mainline purser for once in their life. Sad state of affairs. I hope the pilot involved sues the DM and the individual involved for libel/slander as appropriate.

Would be useful to know more background about the case. As for the “soft-porn” link, I think many of us have been watching a Netflix movie when a semi naked body has appeared in the scene. Does that count as viewing soft porn ?

ETOPS I could not agree more. A few individuals would lose the plot with other crew or ground staff for to my eyes no discernible reason. The captains I am talking about although few in number were either the light blue leisure airline of yore and then later and subsequently the then UK national carrier. Basically @rses.

How could anybody get recruited as a pilot in this day and age with 'anger management' issues, let alone pass the rigours of a long command course?

The Captain was the subject of a whistleblower report to the CAA from an undisclosed source who alleged anger issues. The CAA have suspended his medical pending investigation and BA have been quoted as saying that the pilot is not suspended. The Captain in question is reportedly undergoing an acrimoneous divorce from his wife' who is also a pilot. After enquiries the CAA may find that the report was either, a) made in good faith, or b) made maliciously. If it is the latter, then the motivation and mental state of the reporter will almost certainly come under scrutiny.

Don't be giving the medical authorities any ideas. We might end up with medicals being suspended during divorce proceedings for who knows how long :eek:​​​​​​​

RatherBeFlying

You make a good point about an occupational hazard in our profession. I have 7 or 8 good pilot friends that have suffered divorce, a couple of them divorced twice! It must be said that the majority had the fortitude to endure the process without affecting their performance. One however was in a bad way largely due to the completely unreasonable behaviour of his wife. In the end he was obliged to take out a restraining order against her as she was determined to do him both psychological and physical harm. He quite voluntarily went to see the CP and got a very sympathetic reception. The guy was put on reduced office duties until his head was sorted out. He was not angry, he was just a victim of a broken marriage.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

It must be very difficult going through a bitter divorce to keep focused week after week in a demanding job.

The BA Captain is married to a pilot? No wonder he has anger issues. She probably sits on the left side of the sofa at home!

Possibly his emotional state exacerbated by angina; which believe me, is an extremely distressing feeling.

Heart trouble was mentioned during the investigation!

There is currently a case before the courts in Australia where an airline Captain is accused of murdering two people because they infringed his camping area in the bush. After that was made public there were plenty of anecdotes at the airline about how he would allegedly "lose his sh#$" at the smallest provocation. There was also a high profile manager who had a volatile temper that ultimately cost him his position within a large airline group. There is anger then there is irrational anger and in this day and age the tolerance for the latter is very small. As it should be.

There is no evidence they went straight to the Daily Mail.In fact the story,which was later used on other news sites,originally appeared in the Sun.

It probably came from an agency as the majority of callers to newsrooms are time wasters.I doubt it was cabin crew crew and would put my money on someone much closer to home given his circumstances.National newspapers do not have the staff or time to go hunting stories and prefer agency copy that is already written and subbed ready to publish.

No names have been mentioned anywhere so there is nothing to sue over.

A quote from the ops manual at my previous employer. "The sort of person who is frequently involved in disputes isn't suited to flying."

Years ago as a new F/O undergoing line training, I had a safety pilot on the jump seat who was reading a book on anger management. This guy had previously sworn at an air traffic controller who made him read back a clearance. This was at a joint use facility with military controllers and it didn't go down very well. He had to be flown back there at a later date and had to present himself in the commander's office and apologise to the controller involved.

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