The Dark Side of Aviation

Truth in Fiction 

The Best of All the Series

There is more truth than fiction in the Flight for Series. Years ago, I speculated the degradation of our industry would impact pilots’ mental health—it did. I envisioned airline management’s cutting training would increase airline incidents and accidents—that, too, has occurred. I later watched the FAA look the other way when airlines violated federal regulations and learned that airlines own the FAA at the highest level. The FAA also enables manufacturers to produce less than airworthy aircraft, and nobody speaks out because of fear of retaliation. The AIR21 statute purported to protect the employee, more so protects the company. Unions like ALPA, lack unity and look the other way to help management’s bottom line, the pilot be damned. As the series unfolds, you’ll come to the same conclusion as I did—obliteration of the pilot job. 

Fifteen years ago, I surmised what would happen if airline management degraded the pilot job, as to what impact that would have on pilots’ mental health. Three years after I published my first novel, Flight for Control, a Germanwings pilot intentionally crashed his plane, killing everyone on board. All accidents in Flight for Control were based on actual airline accidents. How the planes crashed were true, but why they crashed was fiction. Yet the truth is that mental health of our pilots today is in a rapid decline. 

When Northwest Airlines merged with Delta, I observed how training had shifted from learning the plane, to the “be the monkey, push the button and get the banana” mentality. I wrote about substandard B757 and A330 training in Flight for Safety. Shortly thereafter we saw Air France 447 fall into the ocean in the same manner as to the events in the novel. What the reader may not know, was the merger between airlines Coastal and Global, was the Northwest and Delta merger. The atrocious training events in Flight for Safety, were ongoing at Delta. More so, both Delta and the FAA knew of the faulty equipment that took down AF447 but did nothing until 228 people died. My writing a post about this accident, and how to fly out of a stall, became a central theme in the challenge of my mental health years later. 

I enrolled in Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to earn a PhD, to better understand aviation safety, and the ensuing novels, Flight for Survival and Flight for Sanity, were inspired by Delta’s actions in trying to silence me for all that I learned regarding Safety Management Systems (SMS). More than silence me, Delta management attempted to destroy me and remove me from the industry permanently. 

I fought back, just as Darby did in the novel Flight for Truth. The journey from a false mental health accusation, and how I returned to the flight deck, mirrors that of Darby Bradshaw in this novel. Ironically, shortly after Delta pulled me from duty and grounded me, I spoke as a guest with a doctor regarding mental health on a live interview. That interview is in this novel. Most importantly, Darby’s ability to beat the mental health challenge and not allow the process to drive her crazy is exactly how I survived. 

Flight for Discovery included what we learned in my discovery for my trial, and how Delta attempted to bury me, with verbatim deposition testimony. I used the exact testimony in the novel, and nobody believed there was any way possible Coastal Air Lines would go to trial. Yet not unlike the real world, Delta Airlines decided to fight an indefensible position. Why? Because their insurance company paid for their defense and the size of egos surpassed all reason. 

Now we have Flight for Justice. While I changed the names, the trial deposition testimony is verbatim. The only character’s testimony that differs slightly is Neil. His testimony was my husband’s, except for the job offer. The FAA’s complicit behavior is fact. The FAA administrator’s owned by Delta is fact. ALPA’s participation and events are fact. The legal system and transferring of judges and purchased arbitrators are fact. A doctor forfeiting his medical license is fact. The only fiction appears to be the names of the characters, and the plot. Yet even the plot may not be that far fetched. 

The central theme of all the novels is the destruction of the pilot job with autonomous planes on horizon, and the effort to fight for the pilot job and improve training and aviation safety. While many do not believe autonomous aircraft to be a reality, when you read about the non-interruptible autopilot, the patents, and the Airbus ATTOL system in Flight for Justice be aware that all of that is fact. The training events and near-death experiences listed in this novel all occurred at Delta Air Lines. Even the pilots falling asleep on short final was true. Despite winning my legal battle in Petitt vs Delta, nobody was held accountable at the airline; therefore, I ended up walking away from my airline career. 

Perhaps the death of my airline career and Darby living my story inspired the ending to this novel. But the lack of accountability at Delta and the FAA’s complicit behavior inspired the next. Flight for Revenge is coming soon and will be the first completely “fiction” novel. For all those involved, or looked the other way, be it Delta, the FAA, ALPA, AMAS, and/or the legal system, you should be incredibly grateful that I am not crazy. Because, when there is no justice there is revenge. 

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Flight for Justice today! 

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Enjoy the Journey

XO Karlene