Airsupport

saw this article and would like to know what you guys think... some of it was pretty interesting (funny) reading.. he failed his check because he put the plane in a dive??? colgan guys,, shed some light on this please..

Justices Rule Against Colgan Ex-Pilot
Thursday October 25, 6:20 pm ET
By Lawrence Messina, Associated Press Writer Justices Find Against Ex-Pilot of Colgan in Discrimination Case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Though he had suffered ethnic slurs and even threats from co-workers, a pilot's poor flying skills justified his ouster by a regional airline, West Virginia's Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The industry's financial woes following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks also played a role in Colgan Air Inc.'s decision to give Rao Zahid Khan a choice between getting fired or quitting after failing a crucial proficiency test.
"From September through December 2001, Colgan was unable to provide retraining to anyone," the ruling said. "Thus, without the possibility of retraining, Mr. Khan had the option to resign or to be terminated."
The justices reversed the state Human Rights Commission, which had found in favor of Khan in his discrimination complaint against Colgan.
The ruling is unsigned, as it breaks no new legal ground. Justices Elliott "Spike" Maynard, Larry Starcher and Joe Albright concur with at least parts of it, but the latter two also dissent in part. All three may file separate opinions in the case.
A Muslim of Pakistani descent, Khan filed his complaint in April 2002 alleging he endured a hostile work environment due to his race, religion, ancestry and sex.
Thursday's ruling details a barrage of abuse hurled at Khan during his time at Colgan, particularly from fellow pilots Terry Riley and Ryan Heuston. Colgan, owned by Pinnacle Airlines Corp., operated at several West Virginia airports at the time, with Khan flying out of Huntington.
The co-workers called him by ethnic slurs and would ask whether he was a terrorist, the opinion said. One of them also posted a crude cartoon insulting his heritage.
"These fellow employees evidenced a general dislike of Mr. Khan, and displayed their feelings through inappropriate remarks about Mr. Khan's wife, his flying skills, and by threatening that they would do everything in their power to get him fired, including making him fail his proficiency test," the ruling said.
Both pilots quit in the face of a July 2001 meeting with Colgan executives at its Manassas, Va., headquarters to address their abuse.
"After the resignations of Captains Riley and Heuston, Mr. Khan was no longer the subject of any other improper conduct from his coworkers," Thursday's ruling said. "Thus, no adverse atmosphere was created by his coworkers."
But Khan's flying problems continued. By late 2001, he was the only pilot from his training class who had not made captain. Reported incidents included once lining up at the wrong runway. Khan then botched several parts of a mandatory Federal Aviation Administration proficiency check in October 2001.
Khan passed two of those portions after retraining, but during a third placed his aircraft into a dive. The supervisor took the controls to prevent a crash.
"There is no discretion as to whether a candidate passes or fails the test," the ruling said. "Mr. Khan's performance was not within the acceptable parameters; thus, he failed the proficiency check."
Colgan had asked Starcher to step down from the case, arguing he was out of line during last month's hearing by calling attention to the Pakistani descent of one of its lawyers.
Starcher refused, saying he believed the lawyer was "window dressing" for Colgan as it fought the discrimination claim.

kalyx522

I just read this too a couple hours ago... but some parts confuse me, and I'm sure it has to do with the normal misreporting of aviation stuff by clueless reporters. For example,
"By late 2001, he was the only pilot from his training class who had not made captain. Reported incidents included once lining up at the wrong runway."
The article makes it sound like that guy did the actual taxiing when technically, only the captain can taxi the plane. I would think if the crew did line up for the wrong runway, it would be collectively their fault, not just the FO's.
Also,
"Khan passed two of those portions after retraining, but during a third placed his aircraft into a dive. The supervisor took the controls to prevent a crash."
Obviously, this "retraining" and the PC must have been done in a sim... and that is only obvious to me because I'm a pilot.. but who actually takes over the controls to "prevent a crash" in a SIM???????????????? Can we say dramatized and inaccurate?! If I heard that as a non-pilot, I would think it happened in an actual airplane as there is no mention of a sim whatsoever.
As far as the "dive," I dunno what actually happened with this guy, but one of the few things I can think of is maybe he had a V1 cut, autocoarsen failed and he didnt act fast enough? My sim partner and I both dived/crashed the sim during that scenario in one of our first abnormal sims, but our instructor didnt rush to "take over the controls to prevent a crash".. all we got was an ominous red screen, and besides I think he actually wanted us to see what would happen by making the mistake we did. Granted, someone going through a PC shouldnt be making the same mistake.

HercDriver130

there was a time when PC's were given in the acft ..... and also the dates dont seem to jive for some reason. but above and beyond all of those things it would seem the guy just couldnt make the grade.