That was fast. After news broke on Monday about a series of inflammatory posts made in an online forum by Captain Neil Swindells, the new union boss representing pilots at United Airlines has resigned.
United Airlines Captain Neil Swindells Has Resigned From Union Role After Online Forum Controversy
In comments first noted by Live and Let’s Fly, Swindells published, under his own name, a number of snide remarks directed at minorities, women, and homosexuals in an online forum for airline pilots.
> Read More: New United Airlines Pilot Union Leader Accused Of Racism, Misogyny, Antisemitism (Screenshots)
On Tuesday, he tried to bury the hatchet by issuing an “apology” over his comments, but his half-hearted note merely inflamed the situation. With pressure building from inside United Airlines as well as mainstream news outlets picking up the story, any hope of this issue going away quickly was dashed.
Moments ago, Swindells sent the following note to pilots announcing his resignation:
December 21, 2022
There has been a significant negative response to things I posted on a pilot forum. While many of these things have been taken completely out of context and publicly weaponized against me, I cannot ignore their existence and the damaging effect it has had on many of my fellow pilots. For that, I am truly sorry and apologize unreservedly.
In accordance with the personal and professional standards I have maintained throughout my entire career at United Airlines, and to avoid any damage to the reputation of the Company, my Union, and more importantly the 15,000 pilots I stepped forward to represent, I hereby resign from the position of Master Chair and the privilege of the UAL BOD seat with which it comes.
When I was asked to step forward, representing the United Airlines pilot group was the highest honor I could imagine and the pinnacle of my long and staunch union career. Out of my respect for you, the 15,000 pilots of United Airlines, it became clear my position was untenable and a negative distraction to achieving what we all want…an Industry Leading Contract.
I want to thank the many, many people who know me personally and have supported me through the recent days, knowing this attack does not represent who I am as a person, a husband, a father, or a professional pilot at United Airlines. I have had a spotless record of service to the Association and the Company for over 27 years, but errors in judgment on a pilot forum may have damaged that reputation. I hope it has not.
I thank you for the privilege of serving you. I hope we can overcome the tribalism that has dominated UAL ALPA politics for far too long. As I said at the outset of the election, and I made clear to the MEC at the election, I had no political agenda, only service and the desire to serve your best interests. That is no longer possible. Lastly, I want to thank Captain Mike Hamilton for the generosity of his time and knowledge. I also want to acknowledge all of the ALPA Officers and Staff who have been such a magnificent help during this difficult period.
It is time for me to go back to the Line and do what I have loved doing for over 27 years, which is flying with the best, most professional pilots in the aviation industry. You deserve the best contract in the industry to match and it is time for this distraction to end.
In Unity,
Captain Neil Swindells
UAL-MEC Chair
The resignation is effective immediately.
Who Will Replace Him?
It merits mentioning that Swindells was voted Chair of the Master Executive Council (i.e. the pilot union governing board) by a 9-8 vote, but the Council had full knowledge of his remarks before the vote took place.
That means the majority of the vote still felt comfortable with his temperament, calling into question their own temperament.
When Live and Let’s Fly broke this news, it did not do so with an agenda to “cancel” Swindells. Rather, we believed his comments were newsworthy…and it remains newsworthy that Swindells was voted in while other pilot union leaders knew full well of his temperament.
We’ve all said things that we wish we could take back. But we’re sensing a real, “You’re g-d right I ordered the code red!” moment here. Look at the letter above:
“I have had a spotless record of service to the Association and the Company for over 27 years, but errors in judgment on a pilot forum may have damaged that reputation. I hope it has not.”
May? May have damaged your reputation? Sir, your lack of self-control led to your undoing. And even now, you sound like so many of the comments we have received concerning this issue, like this one:
“As an airline pilot for 25+ years, I am ashamed to see that so many of our younger generation of pilots are so weak, sensitive, and easily offended by a little “rough and tumble” vernacular. Swindels’ forum posts have always been direct, honest, and sometimes a bit coarse. His manner doesn’t affect anybody that doesn’t choose to read the forum, so let it go — and for God’s sake, eat some protein and grow a pair.”
Now Swindells can console himself that he was persecuted by the “woke libtards” and wear his resignation as a badge of honor.
But we hope that one day Swindells will realize there is great wisdom in Proverbs 16:23-24:
“The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction. Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
He who restrains his lips is wise.
CONCLUSION
Swindells has resigned after less than a half-week on the job. His incendiary history of coarse language on online forums came back to bite him and he was unable to recover from it.
The United Master Executive Council is now tasked with finding a unifier with a backbone but also with discernment. The same issues remain: a contract is outstanding and division amongst pilots is rampant. We wish United pilots all the best as they negotiate for an industry-leading contract.
image: @UnitedPilots / Twitter
UAL needs to fire him too….ya know…..”professional stsndards”. Didn’t WN fire that hot mic dude from a few years back?
That’s right, cancel ANYONE who doesn’t wholeheartedly agree with your societal view. After all, it oh-so-hurtful to read something disagreeable. It’s “problematic” to be challenged in any way. Freedom of speech? Only for you and those like you. For anyone who dissents with the party line, well that’s “hate speech”/ I get very tired of people who use and support textbook fascist policies = then accuse their victims of being “fascist”.
It’s all very Maoist. And, if you think that’s cool, just remember that Mao was responsible for more deaths of innocent victims that even Hitler.
Why do none of you understand what freedom of speech is? When your post showcases a lack of understanding, very few will support the point you’re trying to make.
United
Official airline of nazi Germany…
Fire him for what?
Contrary to what the woke idiots keep claiming he hasn’t said anything racist or homophobic.
Cancel culture strikes again.
If you mean self-cancelation, you’re absolutely correct.
Or, maybe thousands of employees don’t want to be led by a racist bigot…not that complicated. Look in the mirror perhaps.
Still projecting I see.
What a drama queen you are. Hard to believe that you’re the product of culture that once stormed the beaches at Normandy.
People like you couldn’t successfully storm Whole Foods.
Yet the people that work under you have to work for a judgmental individual (how’s that Matt?) who spews hatred toward anyone who disagrees with them, and attacks their families. But that OK in your book, right UA?
And none of us forget when you threw the fit toward the FA when your choice of meal wasn’t available. Epic LaLF story that showed your true self.
What racism?
Cancel culture is bad news. But so is speaking in negative and inflammatory ways about people. While I believe everyone deserves a second chance I already believe that people should know better. This wasn’t a case of a teenager making a poor choice and regretting it but rather than a seasoned adult who was unapologetically caught. There’s a very clear difference between this guy and cancel culture…
Is there? Was there proof of malice? Or does he just have issues with composure being on the spectrum or similar? Not condoning his remarks but either way cancel culture wins again.
Doesn´t seem like people agree with you, rightly so. Proof? YES, countless of screenshots from his comments online – as well as reports from anyone who has worked with him. This is not cancel culture – he cancelled himself.
If any of us were judged on our worst days, we’d all look pretty bad.
Maybe the covid vaccine made him act like an unhinged a-hole
probably.. I did read the theory that the vax turns off the empathy gene in DNA. makes sense. however, did you listen to this yet? pilot talks about the danger of other pilots taking untested medical treatments, something that was never allowed previously. We could be looking at more crashes or issues in the future. thanks airlines. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6317477707112
It’s also going to be really cold this weekend… damn you covid vaccine!
ABC presenter speaks out, describes vaccine injury as ‘a living hell’ https://www.rebelnews.com/abc_presenter_speaks_out_describes_vaccine_injury_as_a_living_hell
How can she say for sure that was caused by the vaccine? Where’s the proof? Sounds like a coincidence. Maybe it was caused by genetically modified food
oh ok and yeah all the others reporting the same are making it up, too. NOPE. Also. Cleveland Clinic: Study shows chances of contracting COVID increase with each vaccine dose https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/health/study-shows-chances-contracting-covid-increase-each-vaccine-dose
@Matthew – ending with a beautifully written piece of scripture, well done!
Eye roll. Seems hypocritical to include. What would Jesus do? Cancel? Forgive?
@ECH- so glad you asked! Jesus made his offer clear. The question would be, does Swindells accept?
there are plenty of other applicable scriptures..
..let he who is without sin cast the first stone
..why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
..Judge not lest you be judged.
and so on
Oh man. I wonder if the union guys who were in the other post will come back here. I gotta go get some sleep first…
I’m sure you’ll get your critics again on this one. It’s the culture now. Fewer people believe there should be consequences anymore.
Excellent article and very well outlined truths.
Yay!!!
This is not cancel culture at work. This is an old white guy being naive enough to imagine that his unhinged behavior on the Internet is a privilege he owns. We may argue and get heated in forums, but wishing others to “die a slow and painful death from anal cancer with copious seepage” is not the stuff of a man with leadership aspirations.
Who are you going to target next?
You could have made the original article more relevant by stating this position earns a seat on the United Continental board of directors. Actually you didn’t even reference that in your text here, makes me think you didn’t do the homework to understand that implication, which could have made some of your readers more accepting of coverage.
That was not the issue to me, but yes, I should have mentioned it anyway.
This piece is brilliant. Skewers the entire culture of rabid, entitled, clearly arrogant acolytes that honesty believe their “rights” to offend and ridicule the “less than” [nee; not old white male] are boundless. And we should “grow a pair.” Funny when most of them are on copius amounts of ED drugs.
And now we see who the real snowflake is. As soon as there is heat, he melts into resignation.
He’s being held responsible for his own actions, and apparently that was unfair, and just too much to bear.
Two things continue to amaze me– that people don’t understand that their internet activities can often be traced back to them, and that people think that a half-assed apology has any chance of helping them.
His mistake was apologizing, that only works for the left.
Tell that to Al Franken and bill Clinton
How can you tell? What have people on the right done wrong and apologized for?
Are you going to post more of the damning messages or since he resigned you won’t do it anymore?
I have them (they are against black people), but I will hold them at this point now that he has resigned.
Even without the misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry this guy flaunts so proudly, his seething anger, festering personal grievances, profound lack of self-control, and inability to express himself clearly should have disqualified him from any position with UAL or the pilots’ union. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
someone send this to United HR please
I want to comment on the perspective of the non-flying commenters who assume Swindells is unfit for his job because he acts aggressive online or uses foul language.
I was an F-16 pilot 20 years ago. The military flying culture back then would be considered a comically toxic workplace by todays standards. People were very aggressive, and potty-mouth words were used all the time in regular speech. We had official functions at strip clubs.
But in spite of all this, the pilots and other military personnel were actually really good at their jobs. Amazingly good and professional at the part that mattered. We carried live missiles to shoot down airlines after the 9/11 attacks. We carried bombs over your houses. Did you read about unprofessional behavior in those activities?
I guess my point is coarse behavior on the ground doesn’t correlate to unprofessional behavior in the air. But I don’t expect the non-flying public to understand this.
I saw that behavior too when I was in the USAF. The question then, as it is now, is whether it was constructive, not whether it is/was linked to men (and now women) being good pilots. The coarse language, strip clubs, booze, etc are all lamentable, but strike me as being in a different category than the temper. I sense a short fuse and a short fuse is not constructive outside a cockpit and certainly not in one.
Wow, you carried missiles to shot down airlines -you mean airliners? And, gosh, you carried bombs over our houses, thank you so much for your valiant and heroic service.
What does the meat-head military culture have to do with this? The culture you describe is, frankly, an annoying part of the airline pilot profession. Single seat fighter pilots can be the worst to fly with in a crew environment; characterized by misplace aggressiveness, here and there, punctuated by intolerant and authoritarian tendencies and lets not forget, deficient social skills, but not always, admittedly they’re exceptions. The fighter pilot person tends to need the most CRM training and is often in need of CRM remediation; additional they have been known to require a disproportionate amount of extra OE to complete the course and then the single seat fighter pilot person is just barely average but leaves the OE and goes to the line very confident and views straight and level airline flying contemptuously,
@Steampowered
So then we should just allow these guys to be racists, bigots, drive drunk, beat their wives etc. because it doesn’t mean they’re bad at decision making in the cockpit?