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UA455 AUS-SFO Pilot Removed After Rant About Divorce & Election 11 Feb 2017

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UA455 AUS-SFO Pilot Removed After Rant About Divorce & Election 11 Feb 2017

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Old Feb 11, 2017, 8:02 pm
  #1  
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UA455 AUS-SFO Pilot Removed After Rant About Divorce & Election 11 Feb 2017

Was anyone from FT on this flight? Seems like a remarkable incident:

A Pilot Was Removed From Her Flight After Going On A Bizarre Rant About Trump And Clinton
A pilot was removed from a United Airlines flight Saturday after she used the plane’s intercom system to go on a bizarre rant ranging from her divorce to thoughts on President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 11, 2017 at 9:37 pm Reason: repaired link; added some content per FT rules
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 9:09 pm
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I feel bad for the pilot, but glad she was not allowed to fly. We are all just human and have our bad days....
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 10:19 pm
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Darn, wish the YouTube passenger had not made the video private...
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:00 pm
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How did the gate agent even allow a manifested, working crew member through the jetbridge door in street clothes? Pretty sure every airline has a uniform requirement.
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:03 pm
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Originally Posted by PenaltyBox
How did the gate agent even allow a manifested, working crew member through the jetbridge door in street clothes? Pretty sure every airline has a uniform requirement.
Yes! This is the most bizarre part for me. How did she even pass the preflight briefing with her fellow crew members if she was not in uniform? All other crew members were O.K. with her flying the plane without a uniform (not to mention that she was not in a stable mood)?
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:15 pm
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It's hard to watch someone destroy their career in a couple of minutes....
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:23 pm
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#CasualFriendly!
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:30 pm
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Indeed
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:44 pm
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That's a really sad meltdown.

As for uniform requirements, I don't think anyone was prepared for something like this. It just caught them all off-guard. But "all" is a whole lot of people to be caught off-guard, which is a bit scary. Something of a security risk there I'd think.
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Old Feb 11, 2017, 11:56 pm
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Couldn't she have been wearing her uniform over her clothes, but taken off the uniform after boarding?

I'd disagree with Mike Jacoubowsky re: "security risk." Professionalism risk, sure, but pilots don't undergo security screening no matter what they wear.
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Old Feb 12, 2017, 12:03 am
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This made the top news on the local Channel 5 news at 11:00PM.

Sad to hear that passengers stated they felt they are unsafe under the care of the pilot...
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Old Feb 12, 2017, 12:25 am
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Originally Posted by davie355
Couldn't she have been wearing her uniform over her clothes, but taken off the uniform after boarding?

I'd disagree with Mike Jacoubowsky re: "security risk." Professionalism risk, sure, but pilots don't undergo security screening no matter what they wear.
"Security risk" under the category of someone who might not appear to have it together. You have to wonder, has a pilot, when part of the crew, ever entered an aircraft in civilian clothes before? How many chances did the pilot have to realize she wasn't quite normal today?

OK, but you're saying perhaps she took the uniform off. Maybe. Obviously there are people who know if that's true or not. But once she was in civilian garb and using the PA... well right, who's going to stop her at that point? You're just going to be watching to see how it plays out, not wanting to aggravate someone who might be in a bad way. Then again, as a passenger, you're drilled with see something, say something. Not for crew?

As I said before, you have to feel really bad for her.
Originally Posted by wendySFO
This made the top news on the local Channel 5 news at 11:00PM.

Sad to hear that passengers stated they felt they are unsafe under the care of the pilot...
Not sure if you're saying you would have been OK with it or that it's sad for passengers to be put in that situation?

Last edited by Mike Jacoubowsky; Feb 12, 2017 at 12:30 am
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Old Feb 12, 2017, 1:27 am
  #13  
 
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I just saw this story and here are my thoughts. A pilot holds a special position of trust to all passengers, especially folks who are afraid of flying, and yes they exist even today. If a pilot varies from the expected norm of attire or professional confidence passengers are going to get very nervous very quickly. There is a hyper sensitivity in this era of social media as we're bombarded daily with stories of seemingly typical people doing horrible things. So when a pilot starts going off script, yes, passengers get frightened quickly. If ever there were a job where zero tolerance is justified it's an airplane pilot. I have zero willingness to ride in back with someone less than perfect sitting up front.
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Old Feb 12, 2017, 2:01 am
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by wendySFO
This made the top news on the local Channel 5 news at 11:00PM.

Sad to hear that passengers stated they felt they are unsafe under the care of the pilot...
You would have been okay? What about the Germanwings pilot who flew the plane into the side of the mountain?
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Old Feb 12, 2017, 2:33 am
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Originally Posted by Mike Jacoubowsky
Not sure if you're saying you would have been OK with it or that it's sad for passengers to be put in that situation?
I think it is sad this happened. period. no need to interpret one way or the other. Just heard from the news, don't really know much detail.
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