Delta Pilot Suicides

When Dreams Die

Delta Pilot

Brian Wittke took his life

on June 14, 2022

This is a difficult post for me to write, but one that must be read. While Delta Air Lines was spending millions to get rid of me, paying a doctor for a false mental health diagnosis, other Delta pilots were killing themselves. 

It's difficult for those who are mentally okay to understand why anyone would kill him or herself. The thought as to why a Delta pilot would kill himself is unfathomable. To kill yourself with the prestige of a Delta pilot career with high pay and benefits makes no sense. Unfortunately, when the only option for a person is suicide it's apparent that they think there is no hope, no help, and no way out. 

I hold Delta, ALPA, and the FAA, in part, responsible for the multiple deaths of my fellow pilots. In my opinion, Brian's suicide and others may have been prevented. While Brian's death was last June, Delta's most recent pilot suicide was on February 15, 2023. There have been many more suicides that have preceded both of these. Until the families request that I share their stories, I will just assert they are happening. Delta, ALPA, and the FAA are all well aware of these suicides, yet remain silent. 

An ALPA Captain Representative told me in the fall of 2022, "I knew this pilot was going to kill himself. He kept calling my office. I knew it was going to happen. Then it did."  The suicide he spoke of was not one of those that I knew of because he was a New York representative. There are more than we can imagine, and there is something the industry could do. 

History:  Delta had asserted in court that they "had to" put me through a mental health evaluation because of the Germanwings Pilot who killed himself and a plane load of people on March 24, 2015. Delta believed that I was overly concerned for safety, emotional, and feared I would become the next Germanwings pilot because I had told them that I had a target on my back. Hmmm. 

Most interesting is that the FAA administrator at the time, Michael Huerta, had decided in June of 2016, two weeks "before" I was sent to a psychological evaluation, that pilots would not receive mental health evaluations. 

Huerta stated, "Psychological tests are ineffective because they reveal a pilot’s mental health for only a moment in time without providing insight into whether the pilot will suffer problems later."  

After FAA Administrator Michael Huerta's decision to not perform mental health evaluations, he retired from the FAA and stepped onto Delta's Board of Directors. I have often wondered if this testing requirement had come to fruition, if those pilots who had killed themselves would have received the help they needed. Probably. After I learned of so many pilot suicides, I suspected that Huerta had made the wrong decision. But he did save Delta and other airlines millions.

Mom Annie with Brian

After Delta decided to throw in the towel in my case, Dominic Gates wrote a front page article for the Seattle Times: "Delta ‘weaponized’ mental health rules against a pilot. She fought back". Annie Vargas, Brian Wittke's mother, read this article and reached out. One of her sons, Brian, had taken his life just months prior. His mother does not want her son's death to go unnoticed and she needs to ensure that no parent or family member will ever face the pain that she and her family have experienced.  

Annie told me that Brian had spent over $50,000 earning a Masters degree at the University of Utah, specifically to get a job with Delta---his dream job. Unfortunately the Delta job was, "Nothing like he thought it would be" and "There was so much disappointment in his life." His marriage was a "struggle", he was "a mess mentally and afraid to get help for fear he would lose the ability to take care of his family". This was not an overnight issue, it was years in the making and could have been addressed at the beginning had he been allowed to speak to a counselor or psychiatrist without FAA notification.

Brian was getting help from a Life Coach because, "he was afraid to see anyone who was a licensed counselor for fear that he would be reported to Delta." 

Annie stated, "Everything centered around losing his pilot income. I tried and tried to get him to let Delta know and see what they would do for him and he was adamant he would get grounded and lose his job." Annie also told me, "I truly believe that if he had thought Delta would support him, he would have reached out and asked for help. I was incredulous that he didn't feel comfortable reaching out to Delta."

Unfortunately during the years of Brian's struggle, Delta was weaponizing mental health against me. Of course Brian and others would not believe Delta would help them. Delta also knew of an instructor pilot who put a gun into his mouth on numerous occasions threatening suicide, but Delta refused to do anything. If this information came to light, it would be difficult to continue with their assertions against me in court. Therefore, pilots continued to kill themselves while Delta spent millions asserting they were afraid that I had a mental health issue instead of helping those in need. 

The Pilot Contract

On Christmas Eve, 2016, Delta's hired hitman, Dr. David Altman, sent me my disqualifying letter via FedEx. We later learned that Altman and Delta management had determined that I was bipolar in October 2016. Yet, they waited for two months to tell me my career was over. Permanently. A doctor should know better, and I cannot help but to think that Dr. Altman and Delta management were pushing for my suicide by the delayed timing of this letter, and providing it during Christmastime. 

Dr. Altman

What I learned at the time of Delta's abuse of power, utilizing mental health as a weapon against me, was that the Pilot Working Agreement (PWA) categorized someone with a mental health issue as an alcoholic regarding disability. Meaning, that those with mental health issues would be thrown onto the street after 2 years of half-pay, if they did not solve their problem. They would be without disability and without insurance. Of course nobody would come forward. 

I returned to flying in 2018, and I made it my mission to get that section in the contract changed. I wrote resolutions, gave speeches at multiple bases, and finally in 2019 two resolutions were unanimously passed by the pilots, one of which was that anyone who has a mental health issue will have disability insurance until date of retirement, not just 2 years. Despite this resolution being passed, ALPA and the company decided to wait until the contract was signed to enact it. That would not be for another 4 years.

Not until March 1 2023, was the Delta/ALPA contract ratified, that now enables pilots to remain on disability until retirement if they have a mental health issue. How many pilots would have made a different decision in their life versus death moment, had this been enacted years ago? 

Unfortunately, another resolution I fought for, also approved in 2019, included the mandate that Delta utilize the Mayo Clinic as the Company medical examiner, instead of allowing a provision for them to purchase a doctor with a bought-and-paid disqualifying diagnosis. I was told that change would also be in this contract. It was not.

ALPA did not include that provision, and to date the current contract allows Delta to retain the option to purchase a doctor of their choice, despite, a resolution being unanimously approved in 2019. Delta can still purchase a diagnosis of their choice, and have the ability to force pilots to see a compromised doctor. 

Positive Change Has Been Made

I often wonder if the millions Delta spent to give me a false mental health diagnosis and engage in a war of attrition to have me removed, created fear in these pilots to come forward who killed themselves. I'm saddened that Delta chooses to spend millions in marketing and millions more in efforts to keep the flight attendant union off the property, instead of providing support for the mental health of their pilots. Delta even refuses to allow pilots to stay home for a mental health day despite how much sick leave they may have. 

Brian 

YOU ARE MISSED! 

Brian had just been awarded a captain position. He had three beautiful children. He had everything to live for. At his funeral many captains stated that he was one of their "favorite" first officers to fly with. Sadly, two days before he took his life, he had reached out to Delta's Pilot Assistance Network (PAN) for help and nobody returned his call. Annie, Brian's mother, later reached out to Delta's CEO/Chairman of the Board, Ed Bastian, regarding Brian's death. Annie believes Ed's response was, "just something to make me go away." I read it and concur with her assumption. He did nothing.

Change Needed for Mental Health

We cannot control where airlines like Delta choose to allocate their resources to increase profit at the sacrifice of humanity, but perhaps we can change the regulatory requirements. Currently pilots fear seeing mental health professionals because of the FAA requirement to report such actions. Many pilots fear seeking marriage counseling for the same reason. Then the problems snowball. 

The FAA does not require pilots to report seeing a nutritionist or a personal trainer. Why must pilots report seeing someone for their mental health? Unless an injury or psychosis, a pilot who is fine today will not awaken suicidal tomorrow. If the FAA were to allow our pilots to seek the help they need before it's too late, without fear of job loss, and prior to the need for medication, pilots would seek help before they break. 

Please take time to contact the current FAA administrator, Phillip A. Washington, or Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation and perhaps we can create the change we need. 

The Weaponization of Mental Health

against me by Delta management may have 

prevented Delta pilots from coming forward.

That is something I will have to live with.

I am asking all of you who read this post

to please help me fix this issue

by changing the Whistleblower Law 

please sign the Petition here. 

Share this link with everyone you know. 

SIGN THE PETITION

Someone's life might just depend upon it.

Enjoy the Journey!

XO Karlene 

Mental Health and Culture

Of An Airline

We are approaching the end of Mental Health Awareness month, and with the recent China Eastern Flight MU5735 crash, due to pilot suicide, pilots' mental health continues to be a topic of conversation. However, I believe we should pause for a moment, and shift the focus of this conversation away from the effect and focus on the cause of stress.

There is no justification for harming another person, but every person has a breaking point. Some people are more resilient than others, but that can change overnight if the person works within a toxic environment. Perhaps the industry and the FAA should look at the airline environment. 

I listened to Dr. Susan Northrup on the FAA Podcast on mental health today.  The FAA ensures us that it's okay to speak out if you are a pilot who has a problem you cannot deal with, without risk to your certification. She discusses the resources available for coping. Then a pilot assistant member, Ellen, encouraged pilots to talk early and talk often to help eliminate the stress. I would recommend listening to the Podcast and download it. Listen to it because there is good advice, and download it in the event your company management decides to retaliate and claims you're unfit to fly. 

My concerns with the FAA's assertions are with the group of FAA approved AME's who are on the "list" to be purchased by airlines for giving false and disqualifying diagnosis. I was recently told by an FAA HIMS AME that "Doctors can be bought" and he asserted "this is a dirty business". Therefore, when an airline can assert a pilot is overly concerned for safety and thinks a manager is out to get her, therefore she must be like the Germanwings pilot, then can pull her from duty with an assertion of mental health, and then subsequently pay a HIMS psychiatrist $74,000 to give her a diagnosis that "permanently" removes her from flight, how safe is the pilot who seeks help?

My friend recently visited a mental health care professional because of her toxic working environment in what she said "is a very low-stress job". Her comment to me was, "Could you imagine if we faced this in a high-stress job?" Yes, I could, as flying airplanes is a high-stress career. The therapist said that most of us have Teflon skins that can shield anything, but when there are cracks in the Teflon, the snakes get it and can destroy you. A pilot later reminded me that excessive heat also destroys Teflon. How much heat is being applied to pilots?

After the Germanwings crash the FAA and associated task-force groups were formed to determine what could be done to assess the mental health of pilots. But the Germanwings pilot had been through a swinging door of a psychiatric ward for many years and his inadequate performance was well documented. That potential event was not a surprise. That accident was not the typical result of a stressed pilot and could have been stopped. That crash was the result of a broken human and authorities looking the other way. 

As a benefit to US Airlines' bottom line, former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta did not require airline pilots to take neuropsychological tests during each physical, saving airlines millions. Huerta asserted that psychological tests are ineffective because they reveal a pilot’s mental health for only a moment in time without providing insight into whether the pilot will suffer problems later. The Germanwings pilot could have been identified as a problem at any point in time by reading his files, not by one of those tests. 

Unfortunately, the FAA is still requiring the neuropsychological testing for pilot return due to mental health related issues, despite Huerta's assertion. Those tests are completely unrelated to mental health but are directly related to cognitive ability. Those tests are nothing but brain games that are difficult for anyone to pass without preparation. There is training available, and the tests can also be found on line. Even the Germanwings pilot could have been trained to pass those tests, but that would not have made him a better pilot and would not have solved his mental health issues. The results would have been the same.  

Corporate Responsibility and Causation

It's illegal for employees to be forced to work in a toxic environment, so says OSHA. There are laws protecting employees from unsafe environments. Where are the laws to protect pilots from working in a negative safety culture? The FAA has made Safety Management Systems (SMS) a federal regulation that requires a positive safety culture. Yet the FAA is looking the other way and allowing retaliation in the workplace, and "workarounds" of duty time regulations placing pilots on duty for up to 25 hours, of which is a violation of SMS. 

Hundreds of pilots across the nation are picketing and fighting for contracts addressing fatigue and work rules. I find it ironic that airline management and the FAA are touting mental health awareness, when one of the primary killers of sound mental health is fatigue. Pilots can handle most anything when they are rested, but push them to an excessive level of fatigue and their skills decline---memory, performance, and coping.

Nobody performs well when fatigued. Performance decreases, tempers raise, mistakes occur, and coping skills lower. A simple view of the ASAP program and the thousands of errors made daily are a result of something. Fatigue? Poor training? Distraction? Work environment is everything to mental health. My friend who was talking to her mental health professional was doing so because of the behavior of a director in her department. What about airline management behavior?

Imagine an airline manager terminating a pilot who was dealing with his divorce, on medical leave, on medication, and he pass traveled and was fired for policy violation. "He forgot to get permission." Yet a director is proven to have retaliated against a pilot for reporting safety and yet nothing happens to him. These situations create an unjust environment and produce a negative safety culture. 

When airlines utilize programs like HIMS to control pilots and assert that everyone in the program is an alcoholic, even if they were forced there for their first-ever glass of wine and got pulled over for a taillight or they would be fired, or were raped. But the pilot's objection to the assertion is identified as "alcoholics behavior". The abuse and hardship in the HIMS program has caused numerous pilots to commit suicide, but is being swept under the rug. These pilots are not killing themselves in a plane, but their lives should matter. The reason they are pulling the trigger should be investigated. When the program is the problem, it should be fixed. 

What if airline management retaliates against employees for bringing forth safety concerns, and because management has the power and unlimited stockholder funds they get away with it. What would that do to the mental health of a pilot? I read yesterday, "We should never underestimate how psychologically weakening and damaging it is to be forced to treat as true something that is not true."  This applies to those being accused of being alcoholics as well.

How far can airline management push pilots until they break? That breaking point is a moving target for each pilot and differs between individuals.  What pushed that extremely senior first officer on China Eastern Flight MU5735, who should have been flying as a captain, to crash his plane? 

If airline management and the FAA alike are interested in improving mental health, I believe the focus should be on changing the environment, versus hunting those who have had their teflon cracked due to the work environment.

Sign contracts, honor federal regulations regarding duty time limitations, lead by example, respect your flight crews, and stop working them like pack mules. When a person continually beats a dog with a stick and the dog bites him, whose fault is it?

The current world environment due to Covid, compliance, fear of the unknown, lack of security, finances, family worries, lockdowns, etc., has created an environment ripe for mental health concerns. Mix that with the high stress job of a pilot. Add a huge dose of a toxic environment due to negative safety culture, knowledge that pilots are not protected by regulations because the FAA is allowing airlines to "workaround" regulations and tell me what we should expect as a result? Pilots are human.  

I do not support or believe any agency should force medication on a pilot to "find his or her way back to the flight deck" if the reason the pilot is having issues is the result of a negative safety culture. Fix the environment. Don't drug the pilot who reports safety concerns and then is frustrated by the lack of FAA oversight and management's violation of corporate policy and federal regulations and may not manage that frustration well because they are excessively fatigued due to those corporate violations. What coping skills are needed in this situation?  Look the other way, or be drugged so you no longer care about passenger safety? Perhaps we should fix the culture.

If the FAA seriously wants to improve mental health, and I believe they do, then Safety Culture and SMS at all airlines should be enforced. AMEs who are known to be purchased should be removed. I know a doctor who knows who these doctors are. Will the FAA start their investigation at his door? Time will tell. 

Return Monday to see what we can do to improve mental health. 

Enjoy the Journey!

Karlene  

PhD, MHS, MBA

FAA Safety Summit and Mental Health

"Question Conventional Wisdom"

On March 15, 2023 more than 200 "safety leaders from across the aviation industry" met in Virginia as a result of the multiple near misses in our industry. At the same time I was driving to California on a conference call with three congressional representatives from Nevada, an attorney, a pilot, and the mother who lost her son, Brian Wittke, to suicide and is trying to enact change. 

We were discussing another aspect of safety: Pilot Mental Health. Yet these two aspects of safety merge because humans make errors, cognition is at the center of every decision and event, and mental health is paramount. 

February 11, 2021

While the FAA purports more "airport" training may be a solution, the answer could also be found with more pilot training. Normalization of Deviance, a Threat to Aviation Safety, my doctoral research, speaks to the impact of training, lack of understanding, and the result of a negative safety culture. All of which relate to pilot performance. 

Years ago the FAA approved airlines to reduce pilot training, with the new requirement of "train to proficiency". But is "proficiency" enough to avoid hitting another aircraft or nearly impacting the ground when the pilot heads are down? Is proficiency enough to counteract the lack of understanding or fatigue? When the mind is task saturated due to new or novel information and lacks understanding to the condition, situation awareness reduces. Add a dose of fatigue, and all attention is taken from the external environment to focus on the task at hand. Distraction results. What about a distracted mind dealing with issues outside the flight deck? An accident waiting to happen. 

Change the Convention

What the FAA could do today, that would help in every aspect of aviation safety, is to remove the archaic requirement for a pilot to report on the 8500 document (Pilot medical form) if they are seeing a counselor or psychiatrist. When we posed this on the conference call, one of the legislative representatives stated, "I'm going to play devil's advocate. With all the near misses... won't that weaken the system?" 

Strengthen the System

Enabling pilots to get mental assistance without fear of retribution will strengthen the system not weaken it. Would you rather have your pilot needing help or getting help? I'm a proponent of getting help. 

Sometimes your fellow pilots can help. When pilots are paired, such that a venting pilot is speaking to someone who has empathy, understanding, and the ability to help, then those long nights across the ocean are valuable therapy sessions. When two pilots are paired together with similar issues, those long-night discussions exacerbate both their problems making them often bigger than before they started the conversation. I have spent years on the therapy session end of the equation and have observed the other. 

When flying as a flight engineer and earning my masters in human services I was reading a textbook. The first officer turned and asked me what I was studying. When I told him, he said, "Oh let me tell you what happened to me..." I heard things that I probably should not have known, and he definitely could have used professional help. I have also flown with a crew and observed how one pilot's attitude can take down another. 

An all night freighter, the Captain  non-stopped bitched about the contract and how bad everything was. He asserted that if someone did not engage in the discussion, they did not understand the problem. I slid my seat back to not engage, but I fully understood. Unfortunately he pulled the first officer into his negativity full force. The FO started the trip with a smile. The poor man aged 10-years over the 7 hour flight, and at the end of the trip he concurred how bad everything was.   

Fear of Reporting

We should not rely on airline crews for mental health counseling of their fellow crew members. I appreciate Dr. Susan Northrup's stance that getting help doesn't mean permanent disqualification. She's correct. But, the problem resides within the subjectiveness of the doctor, and the retaliatory behavior of the Airlines. Pilots should not have to gamble their careers because they are being proactive where safety is concerned.

For anyone who does not know how Airlines utilize mental health to remove pilots, read The Seattle Times article and watch the Maximus YouTube video for an eye-opening experience. The FAA knew what was happening. 

"Delta ‘weaponized’ mental health rules against a pilot. She fought back" 

By Dominic Gates 

"Judge says FAA Chief Helped Delta Air Lines Retaliate Against Pilot Who Raised Pilot who raised safety Concerns."

By Maximus Aviation 

I interviewed a HIMS doctor who told me that "this is a dirty business" and "Doctors can be bought." Sadly the FAA knows this, too. The FAA knew about Dr. Altman and learned that Delta engaged him for $74,000 to give me a false diagnosis, yet they did nothing. That should have been an immediate SMS violation against the airline. There is a reason, however, that Dr. Michael Berry is no longer the Deputy Federal Flight Surgeon, and a reason Steve Dickson is no longer the FAA administrator. The question should be asked, "How did either of these men achieve those high-level FAA positions based upon what they had done?" 

Support Professional Help

An immediate solution to improve aviation safety is to open the door for pilots to get the mental health assistance they need before the issues become insurmountable problems. The FAA should remove the requirement for pilots to report that they are speaking to someone professionally. 

Former FAA administrator, and current board member for Delta, Michael Huerta determined that psychological testing was not a valid option, saving airlines millions. However, why not mandate all pilots get an hour of counseling each time they get their medical certificate renewed? 

This would reduce the stigma, improve mental health, and keep the entire workforce mentally fit. Granted a counsellor may note a problem and then can encourage the pilot to return on a regular basis, beyond the regulatory requirement, to help work through life issues, pending retirement, fear of reporting safety, distrust of management... whatever the issue may be. Your pilots will have a method of handling issues before they become problems. There is no downside. 

Please Help Protect Your Pilots

Fear of Retaliation is Real and

Impacts Aviation Safety! 

Please sign the Petition to Change the Law 

Enjoy the Journey!

OX Karlene 

MH370 Did Not Fall From The Sky

March 7th/8th, 2014, MH370 disappeared from radar and has yet to be found. Speculation over the first weekend erroneously focused on the plane blowing up, possible equipment failure, and or an airworthiness directive causing fatigue and a rapid depressurization causing loss of control—I knew none of these situations were the case.

Frustrated that the search was being conducted in the wrong area I finally spoke out in MH370: Time to Speculate in hope that we could send the search crew in the correct direction.

It was not until days later that the authorities ruled out that initial speculation and came on board that this was not an accident and the plane did not fall out of the sky. As the days progress I am becoming equally frustrated as to what the media is saying. 

Is the media speculating
or jumping to conclusions?

There is a significant difference between speculation and jumping to conclusions. Speculation is taking the facts we know and using deductive reasoning to come to a possibility. Jumping to conclusions is saying the captain did this because he was Muslim, or that he did this because he had a simulator.

I may have been the first social media pilot to speak out speculating that the plane was hijacked and did not blow up, fall apart, and/or depressurize and fall from the sky. Many comments are now coming in saying I was right. I don't care if I'm right, as long as we learn what happened. I have also received many emails asking how I knew the plane was taken and there was not a catastrophic failure.

How did I know?

I used system knowledge and standard aviation procedures to deduce that it was not a catastrophic event and there was human intervention. But there is more. The reason could have something to do with the fact I was able to write an aviation thriller, Flight For Control, about pilot suicide and then two months after the novel was published a Jet Blue captain was locked out of the flight deck due to a mental breakdown. 

This event was not a prophecy, but pure speculation as to what could happen in our current world. I took the condition of the airline industry, human factors, and my education in human services and speculated ‘what if’.

I foresaw what “could” happen and wrote a very probable novel. Albeit fiction, I used my 34 years in the airline industry and combined it with psychology and wrote a book that we hope would stay fiction. But the truth is—pilot suicide can and did occur, and may again in the future. But in this case, I do not believe pilot suicide occurred on MH370.

Three weeks ago the sequel, Flight For Safety, came out about the challenges of automation with some very frightening truths—pilots losing their flying skills and not able to land and or fly their planes. This novel was in the hands of an Airbus A330 technical editor the day Asiana 777 crashed in San Francisco, with an exact scenario I had written a year prior.  How did I know? I saw it coming.

Book Three: Flight For Survival is outlined and the prologue features a plane that disappears over the Atlantic without contact. Yes, this was written before MH370 disappeared.

How am I writing these novels that are playing out in real life?


34 years flying, 8 airlines, 7 type ratings and twenty-three years instructing for major airlines on international aircraft, I have watched the history of automation increase in direct proportion of skill deterioration. Once again I speculated on what could happen and it came true—a major airliner crashed a perfectly good airplane.

I am not a prophet, I am an airline pilot with vast experience in flight training and human factors, and I saw the automation issues coming over twenty years ago. There is a reason experienced pilots are landing at the wrong airports and having mishaps with their planes.

I've lived through mergers, pension loss, and furloughs and see what it does to people. I took it upon myself to get a Masters in Human Services to help understand the human psyche.

Do I think someone landed MH370 in a remote strip? No.  Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part because if it is, our world would be in trouble, as Mark L. Berry outlines in his theory. Better safe than sorry?

My belief comes from deductive reasoning based on my automation and heavy jet experience, and what would have had to happen to make that landing a probability. I always say, never say never. But tomorrow I will share with you why I hold the beliefs that I do.

The Power of Speculation

Aviation control and regulation is reactionary. Speculation is about being proactive. Being proactive can prevent accidents from occurring and can keep terrorists off planes. Being proactive prevents people gaining access to an aircraft with stolen passports. It means not waiting five days to expand the search to passengers, crew, and a possible area outside the span of a plane falling out of the sky. There was no way what happened to AF447 could have happened to the Boeing.

If we can deduce and speculate what might happen from what we know, we can prevent it from happening in the future. We can also find this plane if we zero in on what might have happened by focusing on facts instead of jumping to conclusions which wastes valuable time. We lost at least five valuable days while heading down the wrong path.

The Time To Speculate post has had 118,000 views, and still counting, with hundreds of comments. (I am still planning on responding to everyone. Thank you for your patience if I haven't got to yours yet.) 

Some people have stated, “I hate to speculate.” I ask, “But why?”

Speculation done without blame, fear, and ignorance is nothing more than brainstorming. Our challenge is whether or not we have all the facts. Due to national security I can imagine the ‘classified’ information is being withheld. So we as viewers of this horrible movie can only speculate with what we know. Do we know everything? I'm not sure that we do.

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 19th, I will tell you why I do not believe the captain was to blame and why I do not believe the plane landed someplace to be used again in my post Debunking Myths of MH370.

We will find this plane and the answers. Until then, my heartfelt prayers go out to the families and friends of those on board MH flight 370.

Enjoy the journey and keep the faith!
XO Karlene

Karlene Petitt is an International Airline Pilot

Author of best selling Aviation Thrillers:

Flight For Control and Flight For Safety

Alcohol and Pilots

Guilty Because We Say So! 

"Getting a false positive made me live the life of 

Andy Dufrane in Shawshank Redemption... 

I never thought the storm would last so long...”

Captain Mike Danford

 

There was a time when pilots flew under the influence. But those days are gone, except for the isolated case of indiscretion on a layover that is captured before departure. There is always that isolated case where a pilot cannot avoid drinking and pushes the limit. But those cases are few and far between and not a current issue. Pilots simply do not show up to work under the influence in today's world. 

In response to drinking in the 70's came the HIMS program. HIMS stands for Human Intervention Motivation study, which was conducted in the 1970’s to determine the need for a "specialized alcohol recovery program for professional pilots." However, in the 70's pilots smoked in the cockpit, exercise meant carrying their flight bag, and eating right was a fresh donut with a cold cup of coffee. They played hard. A 50-year-old pilot looked like he was 80. Today, smoking is virtually non-existent, pilots exercise, eat right. and don't drink and fly. We hang out in the gym instead of the bars. 

Due to necessity in 1974 the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) funded the HIMS program.. Grants from the FAA were also awarded to Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) for continuation of the program. The HIMS program subsequently became a profit center.  A profit center that ran out of pilots who needed help, and now they grab all they can. Perhaps the reason they knowingly allow an alcohol test that produces false positives. 

The program itself is important for those who need it. But clearly we are not living in the 1970s. The unfortunate situation is that airline management is now using this program to control pilots. You do not need to be an alcoholic to be in this program. You may have had your first drink in your life, and received a DUI, at the lowest level, and you, too, could be in the program. When in this program you will have to admit you are an alcoholic, versus maybe you simply made a bad judgment call, or you will be terminated. 

Technically, do you have to go into the program? Absolutely not. You could do this on your own. The FAA requires: 

• Substance abuse assessment
• 28 day (preferably in-patient) treatment program
• Establish peer and company sponsorship
• 3 month intensive out patient follow up (IOP)
• Heavy involvement in AA
• Establishment in regular aftercare
• Psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluations by HIMS-trained addiction specialists (P & P)

The problem is two parts:  ALPA says you have to go, and the lure is that the company will pay for it. 

How does the company control pilots in this program? If you call in fatigued, they could assert you are an alcoholic and must have been drinking. If you call in sick, they could assert it's your drinking that's the problem. If pilots were afraid to report safety before, they certainly won't report safety knowing that it could be the end of their career being accused of drinking when they have not. How is that possible?

The program requires random alcohol tests. 

But all tests are not created equal.

If a pilot joins the "ALPA/Company" program, the pilot signs a contract asserting they will never drink again. However, the contract is worded in such a manner that asserts the pilot will not receive a "positive test" for alcohol or drugs. The problem thereafter is that ALPA and the FAA are allowing airline management to use the Dried Blood Spot PEth (DBS) test that is not FDA approved and has proven to have produced thousands of false positives and as a result destroying lives. 

Pilots are losing their careers because of these false positive tests, when they did not drink. Even when the FAA returns the pilot's license and deems them fit to fly, the airline has the right to terminate the pilot. Worse yet, the alcohol programs these pilots are sent to, are managed and run by airline management. Pilot managers with no experience regarding alcohol and substance abuse treatment, and may be abusers themselves, sit on the board of directors of these facilities. The best way to control the outcome. They listen to the pilot's most intimate secrets during meetings. They use this information as they see fit. Nothing is confidential. 

"All Alcoholics and Addicts are Liars!"

So says manaement. 

Managers, overseeing pilots in the HIMS program, and chief pilots alike, believe that if you are an alcoholic then you are a liar. This may not be a global belief by all managers, but this statement has been voiced to many pilots in the program. It could be argued that these very managers with their limited knowledge and archaic thinking could be a contributing factor to the suicide rate within the program. 

Could you imagine receiving a false positive from a DBS PEth test, but then you take subsequent tests that prove the PEth was false, yet the logic of why management refuses to read the data and look at the facts is because it's of their opinion that "all alcoholics are liars"?  I personally know that statement to be false. I also know a Senior Vice President at an airline that perjured himself in court on multiple accounts, and he was promoted to a CEO. 

Hand Sanitizer Causes False Positives!

So Says Michelle Gable, owner of Choice Labs

Michele Gable, owner of Choice labs has admitted that she obtained a false positive from use of hand sanitizer with a Dried Spot Blood PEth test. She owns the labs that are producing these false positive tests. She also asserted that she and others drank and received a false negative. It's hard to believe that with this knowledge, these tests are even allowed. 

Where is ALPA?

What can be done to help falsely charged pilots? The answer is that ALPA must revamp the program and rewrite the contract to eliminate the "testing positive" language. Either the pilot drank or they did not. If a false positive can be proven false, then that should stand. 

ALPA must prohibit the PEth test. There are many other methods of determining if a pilot drank. The question is why is this still ongoing? 

Among the many plot points in Flight For Discovery is the frightening truth of how Global Air Lines management goes to no length to silence a female pilot, via the HIMS program, to prevent her from connecting with Darby. However, when the HIMS Chairman is about to come forward and tell Darby and her attorney everything, the worst happens. The events are inspired by a true story, where truth is scarier than fiction. 

For now, someone must do something about the PEth test. It's time to say no more. This is a good place to start if you want to learn more: Dried Blood Spot PEth 

Write to your local ALPA representatives, the FAA, your congressmen, and ask them to prohibit the use of the Dry Spot PEth Blood Test. Write to the National President ALPA President, Joe DePete, at Joe.DePete@alpa.org and request that he prohibit the PEth test. 

Enjoy the Journey!

XOX Karlene 

Pilot Suicide kills 44

1994, pilot suicide kills 44...

“RAM flight 630 departed Agadir (AGA) on a domestic flight to Casablanca. Some ten minutes after takeoff, while climbing through 16000 feet, the ATR-42 lost control. The ATR-42 entered a steep dive and crashed in the Atlas Mountains.

The accident was said to have been caused by the captain disconnecting the autopilot and directing the aircraft to the ground deliberately.”

Flight For Control

"Where Fiction Mirrors Truth"

“Say, when I read about the Jet Blue pilot going banana's I sure thought about your book. Hell, it's almost exactly as you depicted. Maybe all the stress is starting to show on the flight crews, just as you said.

I think about what I went through during my tenure, what with all the company's going bankrupt and the scare of NWA during all the strikes etc. we had. The stress was there too but we took it in stride but now maybe it's too much for this new generation. I don't know but it's sure not healthy for the industry.”

Retired Northwest Airlines Captain

Perhaps back then there was hope.
Do pilots feel there is hope, and they are in control of their lives today?
Where do you feel the future of Aviation is headed?
Where will we be in ten years? 

The challenge is yours... Make the Skies Safe.

Join me in Jacksonville Florida... Specifically: KCRG. Craig Municipal Airport. This Saturday June 9th from 10-Noon. Katja is hosting a Flight For Control Book club meeting. We're focusing on the future of Aviation, and what we can do to make the skies safer. I would love to meet you.

What can you do to make the skies safe?

Enjoy The Journey

XOX Karlene

Suicide By Plane

Last week I was Googling in search of a Piper FBO in the Seattle area. What should pop up? A post by Charles O'Rourke, Suicide by Airplane.  Thirty plus events of pilot suicides by planes. What this list did not include were the vast number of Airline pilot suicides. Stress can break even the strongest person. We only hope that the pilot doesn't break on the plane like the JetBlue Captain.

Six months have passed since that JetBlue Captain experienced a mental breakdown during his flight. We should not allow is for this event to be buried and forgotten. Mental health of our crew-members is essential for the safety of the flying public.

For those who have not heard the story, (and recently I have met many who haven't) this is a great recap:

JetBlue pilot subdued by passengers during mid-air rant (3:33)

Stress is in the Air:

-->

Public Stress grows prior to, and during, the U.S. presidential elections. This has everything to do with the slam campaigns and focus on the negative, instead of what we can do for our country and the world. People become angry. Arguments ensue. Union busting is a hot topic. Blame as to why companies can't make it. Unemployment. Housing market. Pay cuts. Pension loss. Taxes. The list goes on. This type of commentary is mostly propaganda to create anger and instill feelings of doomsday, instead of proposing ideas of change for the positive.

  

Pilots are not exempt from this added stress. 

  

What do you think we can do during these challenging times to eliminate stress? How do you avoid stress? How do you deal with the election year, to keep yourself mentally healthy and protected? 

This protection is not about avoiding hard topics. It has everything to do will looking at the issues and dealing with what you can, and finding solutions that work. But the reality is... this type of talk creates added stress. 

Most pilots keep the political and religious discussions out of the flight deck. But they can't keep the destruction of their jobs and what is happening in their industry, impacting their families. How should pilots stay protected?

A glimpse inside the world an airline pilot lives can be found in Flight For Control. The theme of my first novel: Mental Health. How far can you push a pilot before they break?  While the story is fiction, truth lays within the pages.

Weaponization of Mental Health

FedEx this time...
And Delta becomes involved

Do not underestimate the power of a Airline Freighter falling on your house. Despite no passengers on board these aircraft can do as much damage to anyone on the ground when something goes wrong. The following event was in an Airbus A310 aircraft. Planes get old, equipment fails, and the very reason we need pilots. You'll see why two pilots are equally as important. 

December 2015, Phil Seubert and his captain operated an Atlanta-Newark leg in an Airbus 310. The fuel slip and flight release indicated they had 62,500 lbs of fuel on board. The flight plan stated that fuel at destination would be 40,000 lbs because they were tankering fuel. The flight proceeded normally, and the fuel gauges, totalizer readings, fuel used readings, and Flight Management System indications agreed with each other and indicated that the aircraft had consumed about 18,000 lbs of fuel. But, just prior to turning on approach the fuel system reading increased to 61,000 lbs of total fuel, and froze! 

Phil Seubert and the captain flew the airspeed hook, the only indication that provided them an accurate maneuvering speed because it utilized angle of attack. They landed immediately due to the unknown fuel state. An example like this is why every pilot should have a deep level of understanding of their aircraft systems, as these pilots did. They wrote up the incident upon landing. When maintenance installed a new fuel computer on the aircraft, the fuel system reset to 2,900 lbs "total fuel" and a fuel low light came on for the first time. But maintenance said there was still 40,000 lbs of fuel onboard despite these indications, but they would continue to research the issue. 

Phil and the captain jumpseated to Norfolk Virginia to continue the rest of their scheduled trip. The next night, having returned to Newark, Phil Seubert discovered that maintenance had confirmed only 2,500 lbs of fuel was onboard by dipping the tanks. The aircraft had essentially run out of fuel. 

Phil took pictures documenting the fuel issues and filed an Aviation Safety Action Program (“ASAP”) report within 24 hours of the initial incident, which was transmitted to the FAA and flight management. 

But, instead of investigating the aircraft’s airworthiness, FedEx Fleet Captain Dolores Pavletic began issuing Flight Crew Information Files (“FCIFs”) blaming Phil and the captain for inattention to fuel indications, even though the fuel indications reflected the expected fuel levels until just prior to the flight’s approach.

Phil undertook his own research to identify the reason for the inaccurate fuel reading. He discovered that the aircraft had landed in Atlanta with 21,000 fuel lbs and then was shutdown. When power was restored the fuel system indicated 62,500 fuel lbs, although no fuel had been added. Maintenance had accepted that reading and entered it on the fuel slip and load manifest. The absence of a chain of custody for fuel settings created a dangerous scenario and led to a violation of FARs that requires an accurate load manifest. 

The FCIFs filed against Phil Seubert showed FedEx’s hostility toward him and his safety concerns, therefore, he felt compelled to raise the fuel issue again with FedEx management because they were not taking action to solve the problem, but instead blaming the pilots. 

It turns out that they were not tankering anything. If the previous flight had even a 1000 pounds less than 21,000 pounds on shutdown, Seubert's plane would have flamed out both engines on arrival killing all those on the ground in Newark. Furthermore, there could have been just enough fuel to break ground in Atlanta, but not enough altitude to turn and glide back in. This is a significant safety concern with a potential for what could have been a catastrophic event, but for the grace of God. In subsequent communications to FedEx management, Phil recommended five courses of action designed to improve safety and prevent future fuel reading errors: 

1. Fix the Fuel Low light per certificate requirements. 
2. Ground the fleet until the proper investigation could be conducted. 
3. Mandate a running fuel log in the logbook. 
4. Make Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System (“ACARS”) entries for shutdown fuel and fuel added and independently track entries in the flight logbook. 
5. Require calculations for zero fuel weight approach speeds so crews can estimate the fuel state. 

FedEx management was minimally responsive to Phil’s safety recommendations; however, FedEx management attempted to place a written warning in his employee file. Not unlike Delta SVP Steve Dickson asserting that I was a "catalyst for safety", but still sent me into a Section 15 mental health evaluation. FedEx management attacked the messenger instead of thanking him for the suggestions. 

In February 2016, Phil spoke with an FAA inspector, who stated that there had been no report made to the FAA by FedEx as a result of his ASAP report. The lack of a report indicated that FedEx had either suppressed the ASAP report or had failed to disseminate critical information to the FAA. On the other hand, reports have disappeared at the FAA. 

If you do everything you can to fix the problem but your efforts fall on deaf ears, you leave that equipment and upgrade to a captain on a newer fleet. That's what Phil did. He checked out as captain, first on the B757 and then he went to the B767.

In the spring of 2021, Captain Seubert flew a FedEx route from Memphis to Toluca during which there appeared a 5,000 lbs discrepancy in weight and balance due to the presence of an undocumented 5,000 lb cart. On a subsequent leg of the same trip, another weight balance issue arose that required "significant in-flight abnormal control adjustments during takeoff and landing to avoid aircraft damage". What is significant to one, is catastrophic to another. You decide: 

Captain Seubert was on takeoff roll at V2+20 and his nose was at 7 degrees up, but they were still on the runway! There was no way to abort. The only thing he could do was use his skills and get that plane airborne. That's exactly what Phil did. He knew, however, that they would be required to land the beast with the same out of balance situation. Therefore, he dug into the performance charts and worked this math problem backwards, figuring out what the CG must have been, based upon the performance, then figured out an accurate landing speed and adjusted accordingly.

Phil immediately reported the weight discrepancy to FedEx’s On Duty Pilot. The On Duty Pilot responded that similar weight discrepancy issues had “been happening lately.” Phil reported the incident directly to Fleet Captain Kevin Whearty in Captain Whearty’s office. Phil also raised the incident in training sessions that followed the incident. Based on his experience and his higher level of understanding, I would believe this would be a very heightened concern. 

KILL THE MESSENGER 

It would be so much easier if airlines would solve the problem, instead of killing the messenger. But when that messenger has nine lives, and the company is running out of options... my advice is don't go to court and air your dirty laundry, just apologize and do the right thing. 

How Many Bullets to Get Rid of a Pilot?

Bullet 1: Section 15 

December 17, 2021 prostan called Phil and reported a pilot complaint. He characterized the entire complaint a nothing more than a "political vendetta/dispute." 

December 18, 2021 Phil was grounded. FedEx immediately put Phil into a Section 15, without rationale. Section 15 is a psychiatric evaluation process that I, too, experienced at Delta for my reporting safety. Funny thing is, unlike my neuropsychological testing and the three-days in Chicago over period of many months, and being dead-bolted in a room with Dr. Altman for the evaluation, Phil's psychiatric evaluation consisted of a singular recorded phone call with Dr. Fred Tilton and a representative from Harvey Watt insurance company. 

December 20, 2021, Phil's evaluation began. 

Phil stated that Dr. Tilton opened with 20 rapid-fire questions without taking a breath. Phil responded by stating, "Doc I can answer questions one at a time, please, pick just one."

That's when Dr. Tilton lots it, so much so that at the end of the this mental health evaluation he apologized to Phil for his behavior. He said something to the effect of "I'm sorry I had to get a little nasty." Phil took it as that was the goal to goad him. So Phil said, "You were just doing your job. Happy New Year." 

January 3, 2022, Phil passed this mental health evaluation. He suspects it was only due to the embarrassment that Dr. Fred Tilton would face to have that audio go anywhere. I haven't heard it yet, but I will at the trial and therefore it will find its way to Youtube. I suspect, based upon what I've been told, that this call may indicate that the doctor was a screaming banshee and the patient was composed. Hard to make an adverse diagnosis when that happens, even if the company is paying you to do so. These retaliatory evaluations are conducted by bought-and-paid-for doctors. Medical Fraud Abuse is living practice.

They were expeditious in this process for Phil compared to my evaluation process. My process was 18 months, whereas Phil's was only 16 days. 

SECTION 15 FAILED

When bullet 1 misses, bullet 2 is ready to be fired!   

Bullet 2: Section 19

January 4, 2022 Phil received disciplinary action. When the Section 15 failed to do the job, FedEx placed Phil on disciplinary action the very next day. Now, the fact that they have nothing to discipline him for, but an unverified report, they needed to create something. 

FIND DIRT

FedEx found three first officers to write a complaint, "after" he was placed into disciplinary action of which they stated in their letters, "per your request" indicating these were solicited reports. Then these pilots used the same wording in each of their reports. I am most certain that these boys will find themselves in management one day, and the judge will smell a rat. Regardless, this wasn't enough. 

Fleet Captain Kevin Whearty was already conducting a "lookback." This is the same tactic Delta uses on their pilots. This is also the same chief pilot that Phil reported to regarding weight and balance concerns. 

David DeBerry provided Whearty a background. He stated, "Let me know if this is what you're looking for on Phil Seubert, I can did a little deeper if needed." 

Phil had no training failures. He had no violations. The only issues in his life were tragic. His fiance had died a year before this all began and on May 19, 2021 his son was killed. When his son passed he had to argue with the company to keep his assigned vacation in order to grieve and be with his other children. 

Phil had worked for Delta back in the day, and had left in 2006. So they went deeper, and the hunt for dirt moved to Delta Air Lines. 

Apparently Delta has not learned their lesson after losing my AIR21 trial and losing their subsequent appeal, because they are now helping FedEx to do the same thing to a pilot for reporting safety concerns. There are some missing pieces to the chain of emails. I suspect the request came via a phone call, or perhaps they withheld documents in discovery as Delta did in my case. Either way, this is what we know:

On January 31, 2021 the email exchange began as the result of the Delta search. 

Delta Air Lines Fleet Captain Bill Thurber wrote to Delta Air Lines Managing Director of Training, Rich Kaynor: 

Subject line: FedEx. Instructor Phil Seubert Mystery Solved. 

"Hi Rich, Doug Howard's Phil Seubert did indeed have a chapter with our Company. His personal record is below; I have no idea why he left us. From his PQIS file I see a quick run through the 767B seat with subsequent categories in the 737B and M88B seat. I do not see a CAGS nor POI code on his record."

Rich Kaynor forwards this information to Sarah Howard and simply writes, "Interesting...."

Sarah howard forwards this information to Doug Howard, and writes. 

"He was a Delta line pilot for 5 1/2 years but was never in the training dept. There's a story there for sure but who knows what it was." 

Sarah is not using a FedEx email. Is she Doug's wife? Is she trying to keep this off the record? I don't. But I am happy to clear up the big mystery. While their subject line say's mystery solved, I think there is some confusion as to why he left. 

Leaving Delta Mystery

Rich, Bill, Doug, and Sarah, the "story" and reason Phil left Delta was that he had only 5 years invested, more than enough time to see the culture and the writing on the wall with company mismanagement. At the time Delta was headed in the toilet. Delta had even filed bankruptcy in 2005. He viewed FedEx to be a better career life match for longevity. Any pilot would think that was a no-brainer career shift. 

FIND DIRT FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION FAILED

When bullets 1 and 2 miss the target, they fire bullet 3. 

Bullet 3: HIMS

ALPA tells Phil he will be terminated immediately if he doesn't enter HIMS (The Alcohol Substance Abuse program). Bill Tenner, from the FedEx HIMS program reached out to Phil via text messages. He and Phil met for breakfast, at which time Bill attempted to sell Phil on the HIMS program. 

Phil said, "The problem is,  I don't drink."  

Bill responds, "That doesn't matter. Exercising too much can be an addiction too."

Bill Tenner

One of the many issues with the HIMS program is that the reason a pilot drinks is not addressed. Just removes the crutch if that is the reason. If you replace one crutch with another, such as food for alcohol, you're simply eating your feelings no longer drinking them. A heart attack ready to happen. The very reason we need two pilots at all times. But often pilots commit suicide in this program. The chair of Delta's HIMS program did just that. 

The second reason I have issue with the HIMS program is that airlines use this program as a tool of retaliation, not unlike Section 15, to rid itself of pilots. They place you in the program and administer a non-FDA approved Dry Blood Spot (DBS) PEth test that is known to produce false positives... career over. This is what happened to Delta Captain Ratfield as a form of retaliation. The reason to put her in HIMS because she was "raped" is almost more ridiculous than putting a pilot in the program who doesn't drink. 

Furthermore, does anyone think that telling a pilot who doesn't drink that the HIMS program is his get out of jail free card because he exercises too much?

The HIMS program is a free ticket to termination,

via a connection through hell.

Warning to Pilots

CONVINCING PHIL TO JOIN HIMS: FAILED

When bullets 1, 2 and 3 miss, fire number 4! 

Bullet 4: PATH

They failed the Section 15, couldn't get dirt from Delta, he refused to into the HIMS program, what could possibly be next? "PATH" 

May 2022, Kandy Bernskoetter reached out to Phil to get him into the PATH program: 

"PATH is available for pilots seeking 

physiological,

psychological, or

medical assistance."

Phil has only been seeking fixes to the maintenance problems that could have been catastrophic on multiple accounts. I know Kandy. She assisted connecting me to some pilots during my research, after I was cleared. However, during my event, unbeknownst to me, she had reached out to her counterpart at Delta, Mark Pinsky, to ask about my being diagnosed bipolar. FedEx appears to have an open door with Delta when they are snooping into a pilot's life.

She told me that she did not believe that could happen later in life and asked Mark Pinsky. Mark said, "Yes, it can. Ask my sister, she's a psychiatrist." Then Mark put Kandy on the phone with his sister the psychiatrist who told Kandy why I could be bipolar later in life.

I'm uncertain if Kandy knew at the time that ALPA legal had been trying to convince me to go to Mark Pinsky's sister as the final and binding doctor. I had refused because of a conflict of interest, a violation of the contract and those little hairs were standing up. Kandy did not share this information with me until after I was cleared and returned to work. Therefore I dodged a bullet on my own. I later asked her to testify. She refused. I told her I planned to subpoena her, and she became livid.  

Kandy Bernskoetter

Now Kandy is encouraging Phil to go down the mental path in another manner, on his own, despite a clearance during his mental health evaluation, followed by his refusal into HIMS due to his lack of alcohol consumption. 

CONVINCING PHIL TO JOIN PATH: FAILED

When bullets 1, 2, 3, and 4 end up in a brick wall, fire bullet 5!  

Bullet 5: Threaten IRS Action

ALPA is now agitated and threatening. Why do they care? Good question. Phil has gone non-qual; therefore, he doesn't need sick leave, he can't fly because of the company having pulled him. They have to pay him. However, ALPA is pissed he's not using up his sick leave. They threaten him with the IRS because they assert he is not filing his taxes properly. I faced the same issue (less the IRS threat). Delta made me use not only my sick leave, but vacation too. I should have been as smart as Phil, because I was non-qualed and did not have to use my sick leave or vacation. The judge, however, made Delta reimburse me for vacation and the sick leave was a use it or lose it option. 

For Phil, and me, ALPA would not make any effort to find any discovery for the pending grievance hearings. How far will this go? 

THREATENING THE IRS: FAILED

When bullets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 miss, let's go for number 6, the final round in the chamber.

Bullet 6: The Hearing

Throughout all this time, Phil had never seen a written complaint. He asked ALPA over and over again. He then goes out on disability due to sleep issues. Clearly exacerbated by the stress of this ongoing attack. Not only from the company, but the knowledge that ALPA is helping FedEx, not him.

The letter of complaint finally arrives. But not to Phil, to Captain Sid Graham, 767 Chief Pilot. He received a copy of the complaint on August 4, from Captain Whearty, who received his copy from Veronica Swink. Whearty says, "Thanks Roni" and passes it on. 

Captain Sid Graham

(Any relation to Jim?) 

"Crapping In My Pants"

Sid's response, "Kevin, If I received an email like this with this level of detail I would be crapping in my pants! Shock and awww." 

Phil did not get to crap in his pants, because they had been blocked him from FedEx email. He never received that email. But, one would think a letter of this magnitude detailing his pending grievance hearing and the complaint, that would be held on August 13, 2022, would have been presented to him in a timely manner. Well, at the very least before the hearing. 

Captain Phil Seubert was finally invited to his own hearing on September 3, 2022, three weeks after the hearing date of August 13, with a FedEx delivery. While the company manufactured past events in this document, if any event they alluded to in their final hour attack were true, they were required by law to address those events at the time of occurrence if they impacted safety, or were in fact a violation of any kind. Not 1-2 years later, after they fired 5 bullets to get rid of him. 

Fighting Back with 

AIR21

and Attorney Lee Seham

Lee Seham

There is nobody that understands labor law and the AIR21 statute better than Lee Seham. Phil is in good hands, and is scheduled for trial in November. Precedent has already been established that a psychiatric evaluation is retaliation. I think we should create precedent the many other ways they tried to get him as retaliation, too, such as the HIMS program, digging up dirt with another company, requesting reports "after" the pilot was placed in disciplinary action.  

Phil meets all elements of the AIR21. Why are they going to trial? Perhaps the same reason Delta did... ignorance, ego, insurance paying their fees and a war of attrition. Like bad gamblers, they could not walk away from the table even though they lost with each flop of the cards. I hope that the board of directors at FedEx will understand that Airlines should invest in fixing their equipment, verus attempting to rid itself of pilots who report safety concerns. There is an amicable solution. But, if they go to trial, we'll have the courtroom full. 

A month before everyone's bidding schedule, I'll provide the date and time of this trial. These are public trials and the public is invited to watch. 

If you haven't signed my petition yet, please do so: 

AIR21 Petition 

Until we slap punitive damages on these airlines and hold all individuals involved accountable, airlines will continue to persecute pilots for reporting safety. Until we eliminate the RLA, ALPA will continue, pilots be damned, to use the arbitration process to rid itself of pilots airline management wants gone. 

Enjoy the Journey! 

Dr. Karlene Petitt
PhD. MBA. MHS.
A350, B777, A330, B747-400, B747-200, B767, B757, B737, B727