I worked for companies that refused to comply with the regulation...absolutely. However, I refused to permit this. If the company couldn't comply with weather, maintenance, personnel, training, operational, or other requirements, I refused to fly, or operated the flight in accordance with the regulation.
I found that when an employer complained, it was very easy to hold the regulation over them. "You mean you're asking me to knowingly violate a regulation?" The answer, of course, was always "no." On one occasion when it came to butting heads, I left a carefully drafted letter on the owner's desk detailing the intended illegal operation. I was immediately called in and asked why I had put it in writing. They didn't like seeing thaft in writing. The subject never came up again.
I've certainly seen operators who would pencil whip a repair and push it back out of the hangar. I would write it up and push it right back in again. I'm also a mechanic and inspector with a significant background in that area, including twice as Director of Maintenance...I don't have ANY tolerance for fooling around in that respect.
I proposed a scenario at the outset of this thread regarding a woman who has been run over by her own truck after leaving an icy road, getting out,and being hit by another vehicle also leaving the road...and then subsequently suffered a heart attack. I was called on that flight, and told that if I did not pick up the patient, the patient would die. After consulting weather, which was scarce on the reservation, I determined that due to low visibilities, freezing rain, and weather at the destination airport, the flight would not be safe. I determined there was no point in taking a flight to save a life, and killing the patient enroute.
I was pressured by the owner, who visited the pilot quarters in person, who threatened to fire me, in front of the other pilots. As the senior pilot, I refused, and each pilot in turn also then refused. The Director of Maintenance (also a pilot), the only other available company officer, was then sent to the pilot quarters, in an effort to pressure me to take the flight. I continued to refuse.
I waited until the early morning hours when the ETA for the flight would have been to the destination, then rechecked the current weather. It had worsened as predicted, including a report of the only aircraft to land at the destination during that period, which was described by those on scene as "a flying ice cube." A funnel cloud or tornado had been reported west of the field.
I called the owner at home and reported what I had found, reiterated that the right decision had been made, and hung up. I saw all sorts of things take place, particularly on the reservation. I do hold a standard which is very simple; not everything that is legal is safe, not everything that is safe is legal; and if it's not legal and safe, the flight doesn't go.
I've quit jobs over the principle, and won't hesitate to do it again. Without principles, there is no integrity, and without integrity, one can hardly be a professional. I've met many who disagree, who are willing to bend the regulation by baby steps or leaps and bounds...I know quite a few who can't speak for themselves now because they are dead. Others who have been violated. Others who got away with it...and probably continue not to do so.
I choose not to.
The regulations are written in blood, and stand to be respected for a reason. They are neither capricious, nor arbitrary, nor should they be treated as such. The regulations protect more than they restrict. If I don't think a flight is legal or safe, I'll refuse it, or come up with a way to do it that is safe. I flew out of Chinle when it was dirt (it's paved now). On more than one occasion I required a patient to be moved to Window Rock, for example, due to the runway condition at Chinle. I flew to Window Rock, flew the approach, and picked up the patient for transport to ABQ. Upon return, I was able to verify the runway had frozen and could support the airplane, and returned the patient or crew to Chinle. Never without doing so legally, and safely.
To do otherwise would be careless and reckless. I've spent much of my career doing activities in demanding conditions, such as aerial firefighting, and I understand mission demands and requirements very, very well. I also know that there is no mission that MUST be flown, and I know when to say yes, and when to say no. When it comes time to say no, it's not a decision that's open for debate, and there is NO room for arguement. It's a done deal. If an employer cannot live with that, the employer can find someone else; it's a principle on which I do not bend.
