Leadoff question: how could a crew or any passenger agree to fly under the command of someone like this?
Lucky makes this point and I cannot help but to also make it. Video finally emerged today of the frazzled United pilot who showed up late and out of uniform to the flight she was scheduled to pilot from Austin to San Francisco. Upon boarding the flight, she made quips about Trump, Clinton, her divorce, and the interracial couple sitting in first class over the PA system. She then added that she would let her male co-pilot fly and invited dared anyone who was uncomfortable to get off her flight.
Watch this snippet of her conversation and you will see she is even more erratic (to put it charitably) than I first imagined.
Her cackling sounds diabolical and scary. Yet only 20 people stood up to exit the flight…and the crew had to disarm the doors. That means they were ready to fly with this woman.
Perhaps the crew members had been so anxious to leave they immediately armed the doors when the captain boarded. But upon seeing this pilot and listening to her, if the crew is “here primarily for your safety” then wasn’t it incumbent upon them to fling open the door and direct that everyone exit the aircraft unless the pilot did? What about the first officer? The flight deck door was wide open during her rant. Was he just going to ignore it?
Look, I know it is so easy to second-guess and “Monday morning quarterback” an incident like this having read and reflected upon what happened. Still, the video frightens me. It really does. Does it frighten you or am I overreacting?
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It is unbelievably cruel to post video of this on the web. The woman is having a mental breakdown, will have treatment and eventually get better. Then she will have to face the embarrassment of having this video all over the web. Show some compassion!
But please feel free to criticize United’s lapse in judgment of allowing the pilot on board the plane, particularly the supervisor who forced the gate agent to let the plane leave. The poor gate agent was distraught about having to close the door, when she saw the pilot was not fit to fly.
I am a 1K on United and I can’t believe that they let the situation get so out of control that passengers had to request disembarkation! Where is their professionalism? Doesn’t the crew have some responsibility to relieve the pilot of his/her duties? They were probably afraid that management wouldn’t back them up, and they would lose their jobs. I would also think they would know the pilot and as colleagues, would be able to diffuse the situation. But the main responsibility lies with United, which should have protocols in place to deal with these things. Did they not learn anything from the germanwings incident or the crash of the Korean airliner at SFO, where the younger pilot was afraid to correct the older one?
You are not overreacting.
I watched the video. You have several areas to be concerned about with this video:
1. This woman was clearly disrespecting the airline. She attacked every single area that could be attacked: professionalism, uniform, gender equality, discrimination. You wonder if she is going to make the airplane do something unsafe. A pilot like this is very concerning as you doubt if she will conform to any standard of acceptable safety or behavior.
2. It is troubling that she felt the need to rant about politics to a whole plane full of people. This is very unprofessional behavior and could show that she could not have a good social ability. If there was an emergency o the flight, she probably could not lead the charge to safety without making comments about politics, terrorism or other related issues. This is extremely concerning.
3. This woman seems to be mentally ill and possibly suicidal. Is she going to intentionally do a “suicide crash” with the plane, killing herself and everyone else on the plane? It makes only too much sense. All the attention that she would get, all of the outcries of support for the victims, all of the talk about it in the Airline Corporate office. This would only make sense because she clearly showed an attitude that she needs some kind of attention. If she was not going to get it the way she did it, you wonder if she has other ideas. Frankly, I am thankful that all I am left to do is wonder. I would be much, much more sad if we knew the truth and it was not positive.
Overall I agree that this is an extremely troubling story. She is not fit to fly and probably not emotionally stable. I hope that she gets the help she needs and that some day she can fly again in a manner that is safe and professional with a clear, happy, healthy head.
Maryann, while I understand your point about not posting this on the web, this woman works for a well-known airline. To work for an airline so well known comes with a great deal of responsibility. Working in an operative capacity, your behavior in the professional workspace is closely monitored and is fair game to discuss with anybody.
While I do apologize for what this woman may have to go through, the passengers had every right to post this video on the web. It does hurt me to write this, and I would personally not post this video on the web, but I do not condemn the person who did this. Their pilot was acting unprofessionally and we as a society use mental illnesses as an excuse far too often. It is no excuse for the behavior of the airline or of the pilot, and this behavior has every right to be publicly condemned.
How about the gate agent? Wasn’t he/she also responsible for stopping!her? Doesn’t the gate agent match the pilots ID to the crew manifest?