rumor has it a certain person is suspended! For those of you that have flown with this person knows what I'm talking about!
Well bus b_y, were is your update?
Allow me to provide the history about “Clipper” and our three trips we have shared (I wouldn’t say that was numerous as Clipper suggests but his account of reality seems to have its flaws.
Our first trip was during Easter, about three years ago. I had no indication of any problems until I was saying goodbye to the passengers as they left the aircraft. Of the 70 passengers, I’d say a good 40 made comments about the P/A made by the crew and I was asked by the passengers if I had made the announcements. I had no idea what they were referring to so I asked one of the F/A what was going on. Seems both the F/A were upset with what Clipper had said as well.
You see, clipper thinks he is a comedian. Off the subject for a second, but Clipper likes to get on the P/A and make jokes or comments hoping to get something back from the passengers. A few F/A have told me they don’t like his using their F/A station for his stand up but don’t feel comfortable telling him to stop. But back to our angry passengers after just one leg with Clipper.
Seems Clipper tried his comedy at the expense of both our F/A’s. Neither of which were amused. You see as we approached PWM, Clipper's P/A included telling the passengers how we had planned an Easter egg hunt but our fat F/A's ate all the chocolate and eggs. Apparently this comic rant went on for a couple of minutes and upset most of the passengers, not to mention the F/A’s.
My first clue anything was wrong was when I was saying goodbye to our passengers and I was told that who ever was making those announcements should be fired. I had no clue what was going on as I couldn’t imaging someone making such an inane announcement. I then asked the F/A about it and was told what had happened. Neither F/A was amused in the least. I then informed Clipper that the P/A’s were to remain professional and limited to the normal information only.
Now, as we were leaving the aircraft, (terminating flight) Clipper made no attempt to do his post flight walk around. I called out to him if he would like me to do the walk around, expecting a mature individual to say, “Oh, I’ll get it”, but instead Clipper said, “yeah, go ahead” as he walked into the terminal. No problem, I did the walk around and never said a word.
Our second flight there was only one issue as well. We had a FAA inspector doing a line observation in the jump seat. It was Clippers leg and as we were climbing out Clipper pulls out a USA Today newspaper and throws it across the instrument panel, blocking all of his view of the instruments. I could see the FAA inspectors face in the EICAS glass looking back and forth at me then Clipper expecting someone to correct the problem. Imagine my total disbelief as I was put in this position by Clipper. So I looked over at my F/O and asked him what he was doing. He calmly said. “I thought I’d check out the headlines.” I then asked him if he thought that was appropriate material to be looking at in the cockpit. Clipper looked at me as if I was the idiot and said, “Are you suggesting I put the newspaper away?” I of course responded yes.
Now prior to this departure, I had listened to Clipper rant about how Continental had turned him down after his interview. When he found out a fellow co-pilot had gotten hired he was infuriated. He called this fellow pilot a drunk with a drug history and how stupid Continental was for hiring this other guy and not him. After several minutes of his rant he gave up and went back to work.
Once in PWM the FAA looked at me and said good job. He then turned to Clipper and said, "I wish you good luck with your job in the future." Now Clipper took this as a compliment but anyone with half a brain knew it was something of a warning. I guarantee you; to this day Clipper is clueless about this issue.
Some time later I mentioned these two events to a CP during a casual conversation. The CP told me that he had received a number of complaints about Clipper and his announcements but the CP was more upset about the newspaper event. It was at this time a check airman came in and the CP on his own reported Clipper to him. The check airman said he had received reports about Clipper as well and said he would schedule a line check on him. Other than that, I have no other knowledge of what transpired with Clipper and any line check. He flies the aircraft fine.
Our third and final flight together was completely uneventful. Not much was said but I noticed a more professional demeanor displayed by Clipper. I guess he was talked to but I suspect he finds me at fault for some reason.
Now, as far as this “suspension” goes, about four F/O’s filed reports to management that I was difficult to fly with and made them feel uncomfortable in the cockpit. They went so far to say I made the cockpit unsafe. So we have some children that have a personal dislike of someone and instead of addressing their concerns with pro standards (because they had nothing to complain about) file false reports with the company. Of course I was taken off line with pay until they could get a handle on what was going on. Thanks for the vacation!
It took about five minutes, and letters from about 10 other supporting F/O’s to convince the company that there was absolutely nothing going on other than my trying to present a professional experience to our customers.
So I ask you, take a look at how Clipper presented himself with the creation of this thread and the history of why he thinks I’m the terrible one. If any of you have kids you know what I’m talking about.
Clipper, I think you have a tremendous amount of potential but you do have a lot of growing up to do. Hopefully your new position as captain will help with this process and in the mean time as you learn, you can avoid all trouble.
My advice to you is to go by the book and ensure your crew does the same. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you for making them do their job correctly and professionally, because when the unexpected happens, you have compliance on your side.
Think about it, and good luck to you.