Terminations at Flight Options

[KSUPILOT]

It has taken me a few days on how to report this to all of you. With the holiday season upon us Flight options must feel that they need a larger holiday present for themselves. It goes to show how little quality of life this company has.

Recently Flight Options has terminated a 9 year pilot for not being able to get a hold of his co-pilot on a trip. I was not going to write anything on here until I saw the co-pilot gloting that he had gotten this particular pilot terminated. He must be real proud of himeself. When the Co-pilot decided that he would not respond to the Capt cell phone calls, in house calls, knocking on the door the Capt was in a pinch and could only start heading to get the plane ready. The crew was into their 13th hour of rest. The co-pilot had chose to not work with the crew but against the crew. Now this Capt was terminated over this. I give a lot of credit to 1108 for giving it their best. But when I hear a co-pilot gloting over this in a FBO I wanted to punch him. Now a former 9 year veteran of Flt Ops. is sitting at home sweating on how to pay bills, give his 3 children, one who is less than 6 mths old, a good holiday, and put food on the table.

I know this is going to stir up a lot of expresions from all of you. All I am asking is that think before you do something. You might not just be affecting your fellow crew mate, but be putting his whole family in jeopardy. We all think that way when it comes to safety. Let's all work together to get a job done. Seperate company bs from flying. It is the holiday season, let's all try to get along for the next months and make each others life a little better.

Thanks,

KSUPILOT

 

[x402]

How does the FO keep his job? I don't doubt your post, but something seems odd or untold.

 

[hammer2]

has to be more to the story than this. where was dispatch in all this?

 

[arewethereyet]

Flight Options continues to be the worst Fractional out there. Every time I see any of you guys on the road all I hear is bitching and for GOOD REASON.

I believe someone should walk up to the FO and give him a good PUNCH SQUARE IN THE NECK. IF we worked in a factory that boy would have his legs broken, and his face kicked in.

Good luck to the experienced Captain.

HAP

 

[gunfyter]

The crew was into their 13th hour of rest.

Why would he be contacted while in rest?

 

[KSUPILOT]

The captain told the F/o unless there is any changes lets plan with our 1200Lvan ride. Duty was up at 1000L. The company terminated the captain for changing the duty time. That is the official word. If the co-pilot would have got off his attitutde somone would not be stressing now. This Capt is proably one of the more go to capt. I really feel for all of you that have to go to Flt Ops every day.

I agree with the quote someone wrote about if he worked ina factory he would be hurting. When I worked at USAIR on the maint line we had a supervisor who was looking for anything so he can get a better job with the company. He was coming to work, after he got a mech fired, parking in the handicap spot and coming in with two broken legs.

 

[jetwash]

I am sure the company has a target on the FO now.




Any info on the reason behind the other pilot ?

 

[gunfyter]

Sorry.

This sounds like BS.

But if its not I would expect Flight Options to get an expensive lesson in Rest and Duty rules from the IBT1108 lawyers and or the FAA.

Not to mention the Wrongful termination lawsuit.... A friend won one from FLOPS for big money a few years ago.

 

[jetwash]

I heard the Captain resigned.

I guess he was given a choise quit or your fired.
So I don't think there will be any lawsuit.


Did he request a union rep? I know he was NOT a union supporter.

 

[KSUPILOT]

Actually the opposite. He did request union representation. He was a union member. The union actually wen to bat for him so that he could get a resignation instead of a termination.

 

[gunfyter]

This is confusing. Were they in REST or not. How does one get fired for not being contactable while in rest?

 

[KSUPILOT]

acording to company sop's the crew was out of rest at the end of 10 hours rest. Therefore they were 3 hours into their standby. I am not 100% sure how this works. But from what I am told is that after ten hours rest they must be available to the company.

 

[gunfyter]

acording to company sop's the crew was out of rest at the end of 10 hours rest. Therefore they were 3 hours into their standby. I am not 100% sure how this works. But from what I am told is that after ten hours rest they must be available to the company.

So the crew was not in their 13th hour of rest... but in their 3 hr of DUTY.

 

[FR8DOG777]

First all I personally do not know the pilot that was forced to resign. I don't like to see anyone forced out of a job. I can tell you that the company SOP states you must have your phones turned on after 10 hours of rest. They cannot require you to answer the phone unless you were actually on duty. You do not automatically go on duty 10 hours after your release time. You go on duty when the previous release states your duty on time. YOU ARE EXPECTED, NOT REQUIRED to answer after 10 hours of rest. If what you are saying is 100% accurate then he has been screwing his fellow pilots for some time. I do not answer my phone until I am on duty. I am not on duty until I am on duty period. FLOPS has made their bed and now forced to sleep in it. I am not saying he deserved to get fired, or forced a resignation, but he shouldn't be answering his phone while not on duty.

Some guys at the top of the list seem to think they don't need to follow the rest of the pilots on not answering the phone while in rest, on writing up airplanes when and where they break, and by NOT DOING OVERTIME. Why should they, life is good for them. They were hired, made captain immediately, possibly made a SFO, and pretty much riding on the gravy train. Lets not forget that there are guys that got hired shortly after these folks. They are still SICs and still eating crap from the company. Also even the pilots at the top of the list are severely underpaid.

We need 100% participation from all pilots to get a fair contract for everyone. Those that aren't paying their Required dues (Nov 1st has come and gone) are not pulling this train down the tracks. Those that do favors for the company are not helping their fellow pilots. We have a lot of pilots that are employed by FLOPS on the bottom of the list struggling just to feed their families. They qualify for all kinds of government assistance. What about these pilots? Like I said earlier I don't wish unemployment on anyone. I think everyone should be "living the good life", after all we are professionals right? It did take years and thousands of dollars, and many sacrifices to get to where we are today. Working at FLOPS, I can say the return isn't worth the time.

Please register at www.ibt1108.org Please fill out and send in your registration form. Please keep yourself informed on what is going on with our union. Please follow the guidance set forth by our union leadership. It is for our safety. We all want a great contract to come sooner than later. Without your participation it won't come sooner. Remember do nothing illegal for, or against the company. Do no favors for FLOPS no matter how small they may seem.

 

[Diesel]

Allrighty before NJW chimes in I'm still confused.

Crew is in Rest

Captain answers phone which brings him out of rest but not the FO.

FO refuses to answer phone, or anything. Captain keeps trying to get a hold of the FO... to which the FO is not required to answer. It was the captains choice to answer the phone so on duty he goes to the airport.

Company gets pissed because FO doesn't show and crew is unusable.

How again does the Capt get fired? There has to be moooore to this story. If anything they'd try and fire the FO and not the Capt.

There is way more to this.