Beech Dude

This guy is a real gem. First he asks you to bust regs and be shady from the gitgo, now he's going down the revenge/retribution road? Sorry you're dealing with this right out the gate. Good on you for leaving a scumbag outfit. If this is his tone, I'd find an aviation lawyer and bend his/her ear about your experience. Then, if your former boss contacts you again, you can tell him to just talk to your lawyer. I'll bet my next paycheck he hersheys in his pants and scatters like a roach when the garage light comes on. Good luck.

JohnBurke

Airline pilots rotinely quit during training to seek something better. I have some strong opinions on that; anyone that takes a job, knowing the conditions, the wage, the aircraft, etc, should have the integrity to honor their word and do the job. It doesn't matter if a better job comes along. If one accepts a job and says he will be there, and starts class, that employer is counting on the pilot, others have been turned down for that position, and one has made an agreement.

in your case, the employer didn't live up to any element of his promise, and whether in writing or verbally, it's still a contract. You've got nothing tying you down. The employer lied, asked you to commit crimes, and threatened you when you refused. Trump, with an airplane. Spit on the man nicely, and walk away. You owe him nothing.

An operator who is afraid to show you maintenance logs is falsifying and cheating on maintenance. Not just shady, but night-shady. As in toxic, and poison. His failure to pay what he said he would pay makes him a hobby, not a job. With a job, we work for pay. An employer who halves the pay perhaps wants you to work for good feelings or karma, or for "experience." The employer is the disonorable one. Drop him like a glass of rancid milk and go. You can do better.

Watch your pilot record database (PRD); this is exactly the kind of vindictive employer who might attempt to insert negative information in your records. Check back with the PRD frequently and review anything that's in there. The only party that's allowed to dispute the content of your PRD file, is you.

Cleared4appch

Oh man, dude…you dodged…a HUGE bullet! I worked for a company that did similar things as this guy did when I first started my career. It was a ‘management company’ that managed various small high performance SE and ME pistons and a few turbine aircraft for various owners, and that also ran a flight school. I too thought to myself “is this how aviation as an industry really is???” Surely it can’t be I thought. And sure enough I was right. I left that place as soon as I could and got a job somewhere else teaching, and I began to like aviation a little more. When I got hired on at the airlines, I learned to really, really love aviation again. The airlines tend to run things way more professionally, especially when it comes to safety. 121 operators aren’t perfect by any means, but they tend to be way, waaayyy better than 91/135 shops on just about every front.

These types of people are very prevalent at 91/135 shops. It seems to attract them like magnets for some strange reason. They are very common, but I can’t tell if that trend is getting worse or not in that sector of the industry. You made the right decision to leave even though I bet it was tough especially financially, but you may have potentially saved yourself from getting thrown under the bus and getting royally screwed if something were to happen.

As others have alluded to here, the boss man would NOT have come to your defense AT ALL. And the fact that he says he’s gonna ‘come after you’ now that you’ve left just shows how much of a psycho the dude really is. Honestly he doesn’t have any grounds to sue you or anything. You have some legs to stand on here. The guy didn’t uphold his promise on your pay, and he told you that you need to violate FAR’s. And I was shaking my head in utter disbelief when you said he wouldn’t let you look at maintenance logs. That would be deal breaker for me. There is absolutely no telling what else this scumbag is up to. Chances are, there’s a lot more he is doing that you didn’t know about. He doesn’t realize how much dog poo he stepped in.

followingdreams

I would HIGHLY recommend you keep documentation of everything that is in writing between the 2 of you. Texts, emails, heck, even this thread, hold onto it like you would your logbook! Have it in your back pocket when you start to interview for real jobs. You have no clue what may show up on your PRD, its best to addressit up front and may make for a good TMAAT question.

JamesNoBrakes

Not just that, write all the coversations and situations you can remember. Get it down on paper. It'll get more hazy as time goes down, so get it written down now. Like the above post, document document document. Witness statements are evidence, so write it all down.

12oclockHi

This is great advice but it won’t hold water if you think you are going to out lawyer them with a smoking gun. No scumbag worth his salt is going to admit they told you to do anything illegal. Your notes will be refuted as a lie. A classic, he said, she said with you making claims they with swear on a bible, they never said.

Here is how this will play out on most flights. You are told to fill the airplane, don’t leave anything behind. You know with the fuel you need you will be over gross. The retort from SB (scumbag) will be ,“do what ever you like on the W&B, just make it legal”, show minimum fuel (put on what you like, just don’t show it), or just don’t weigh the freight, guess and estimate the weight. Weight of passengers? Well they don’t look nearly as heavy as you think, again, adjust.

Weather? Maybe a little harder to fudge (lie) but SB won’t tell you to flying in weather below minimums. Just make it very clear what will happen if the mission is aborted/flown to an airport other than plan, or any other scenario that doesn’t match the bosses demand.

The Achilles heal is maintenance, and this is one area where usually dirtbag operators have to tread really carefully due to required documentation. If your employer has a maintenance log and it has sequential pages, it become very tricky for the DB head of maintenance to just ignore your write-ups. Expect DB operators, with SB bring the hammer down on the pilot, to try and get you to not write down squawks. Certainly, not in the log.

You can hope to get lucky and avoid some or all these issues, they are situational and not every flight (you hope) is blatantly illegal, but if you work there long enough, it will come your way. How you respond to the pressure will determine whether you are a “team player” and part of the problem, or just another problem child. Count on this, they will not in any way stand behind you, on the contrary they will throw you to the wolves. Also understand, if you push back and threaten them, they will be much better at offense going after a “problem pilot” than you will be sending them to the dog house. Something to think about.

JohnBurke

Everyone knows how uncrupulous operators work.

Nobody is trying to "outlawyer" anyone. The original poster has quit his job and his being threatened by the operator. The original poster has been rightly counseled to make a detailed record of everything that occurred. There is no downside to this counsel.

Skyrider12

Thanks for all the replies! Yea the whole thing is really almost ridiculous, like some vintage FAA training film on shady operators LOL
I mean looking back I probably should have quit sooner, but I really did try to make it work. I didnt think there would be many like this in aviation but hey....Im glad I dodged the bullet on this one!

I joined AOPA (which I should have done anyway) and consulted with an aviation attorney. His answer was " the guy has nothing on you, goodluck with your next job." So thats a relief....I dont think anything could come from it anyway as there was no contract.
In a way Im glad this was my first experience in Aviation....It makes for a great, actually amazing TMAAT answer and at least I tried to do whats right.

Coincidentially, after I left, I heard from some other pilots at the airport similar stories...So I think I made the right choice.

I dont want to get into a hearsay battle or try and stick it to anyone, or sue anyone. I just dont want to work for a shady/illegal company. Surely that isnt too much to ask. Also, as others have said, just because I know whats right and safe, It dosent give me any legal grounds to do anything, I agree. I mean i can tell the planes are messed up, but what if the mechanics just pencil whip inspections? As long as the annual/etc are all there how could I prove anything....not that I want to.

Either way Im glad it worked out, and I just got another job offer from a much more reputable company.

Now all I got to do is get another 1250 hours this summer and Ill be at the airlines in no time! haha

JohnBurke

Congratulations on the new job. Good luck.

Skyrider12

Thank you Sir!