‘All for Nothing’
I was forbidden to talk to the media whilst at BA. When I left BA I had heard that other airlines may not like publicity so I remained mute to the press. I did do an interview with BBC News after the final report release but only talked about the final 30 seconds of the BA38. I did not allow any questions regarding why I left BA or who I had been refused an interview for. I remained diplomatic.
I have read all kinds of opinions about me, my actions and my wife’s actions in the last 2 years and have had to remain tight lipped. I did not like this feeling but accepted that if I were to have a chance of getting another job I still had to lay low. Now that I have to accept that it appears as though I am unemployable as a commercial pilot I have nothing to lose in publicly stating what has happened with regard my job search since leaving BA.
I know there are some people who have written in various forums and online comments that I was stupid to leave a job when there is a glut of pilots looking for work. The situation I was in at BA had become intolerable and with the thought that there were at least 10 airlines who were recruiting on the 777 at the time, surely I would gain a job with one of them?
Little did I know that not only would I not get a job but I wouldn’t even be given an interview.
20 years ago I chose to train for a specialist industry that I expected to spend the next 40 years in. If I can’t fly, then what other job am I trained to do? Nothing. Therefore, the only other occupation I will be able to find a job in would pay a minimum wage. This is not the life I expected to give my family, it doesn’t seem fair that I studied at school as diligently as I could to obtain the qualifications that allowed me to train as hard as I could to become an airline pilot. Then to work as hard as I could to obtain the promotion to Captain on the 777 within BA.
I had a good reputation at BA. I was always complimented on my bi-annual simulator tests. It has been proved by the AAIB that I performed professionally in the crash, and to have improved the outcome by my actions. If I had not moved the flaps the impact would have been 51m earlier, Boeing proved that the aircraft would have landed 10m (at best) prior to the row of antenna that runs the width of the runway, the damage caused by this is unknown but likely to be disastrous. On my impact we were lucky for the aircraft not to have gone up in a fire ball. The AAIB cannot issue a report on speculation but I don’t think it is hard for anyone else to work out what the situation would have been had the flaps not been moved.
As a BA employee I was not allowed to talk to the press. On my first flight back to work I was questioned by cabin crew as to what my actions had been in the crash as they had been told in cabin crew training that I had not initiated an evacuation, or transmitted a mayday call and I had basically froze on the flight deck. This was upsetting as it was questioning my professionalism and my 20 year professional and sound reputation.
As a pilot you have the right to apply for any pilot position that is being advertised (just like any other profession). However, you stand a better chance of obtaining the position if you are ‘type-rated’ on the aircraft you are applying for. ‘Type-rated’ means you are trained to fly a specific aircraft and so are licensed to fly it, so the new company will not have to spend as much money on you to train you to fly their aircraft, hence why a type rated pilot should always look more favourable to a future employer.
The situation for me at BA became difficult and when they offered voluntary redundancy in May 09 I decided to take it. Some people/friends have mentioned that they didn’t think I was in the right frame of mind to make this decision, but, once it was made in May and I had signed the agreement, and so ‘working my notice’, there was no way I could change my mind, even if I’d wanted to. At the time there were airlines actively recruiting on the 777 so I was happy at the thought of being able to apply to them. I also applied to some airlines who were recruiting for other aircraft and was not surprised when I was not invited to interview, as the market is saturated with type-rated pilots for the aircraft they were advertising for.
I never expected to waltz into ANY job. I never even expected to be invited to an interview on an aircraft other than the 777. I never expected to be given special treatment with the airlines recruiting for the 777, but I did expect to get an interview and be treated like an experienced 777 pilot. At the time of leaving BA I probably had more flying hours on the 777 than 95% of the 777 pilots worldwide, as I had been flying the 777 since early 1996, soon after it had come into production.
I had just under 10,000 flying hours on the 777, 3500 hours of which in command. Some of the airlines I applied to were not asking for type-rated pilots for the 777, as it is rare to get a 777 type rated looking for a job. I applied for both First Officer and Captain positions. Those who ask for direct entry captains ask for between 2000-3000 hours in command (and not necessarily in command on the 777). From these hours you can see that I more than meet the entry criteria.
‘Tried and Tested in an Emergency’
As for my experience, pilots are tested on emergency situations twice a year in a simulator. I had been through an actual emergency and performed well. My scenario was now being practiced with various airlines.
This is a snippet from an email from a friend of mine who works in training with a particular airline, I’d prefer not to name this person for fear of repercussions for them:
“I have now done the 38 (my crash flight number) in the sim with about 30 different crews, half no notice and half pre planned. Unfortunately the sim does not roll back (my scenario was unprecedented in which the engines didn’t completely stop, they were literally being ‘choked’ of fuel so producing very little power, but because the engines didn’t stop, the aircraft computer systems didn’t think there was a problem so had no need to ‘warn’ us with messages) and we have to fail both engines so you lose the ND and PFD right side and get EICAS messages(therefore the pilots get warnings so can start to attempt to rectify earlier than I could). Few unplanned 38's make good decisions- we have had 3 cartwheels and 4 deep stalls. Pre planned the success rate is usually 100% using your F25 model.”(Flap 25 model is the flap mode that I changed the flaps to)
He also said that after a year of debate and research they still rated my decisions as the best course of action to follow and on their command courses they are now using the 38 as a positive example of how sometimes you have to think outside of the box.
For this reason no pilot can doubt the way I performed on the day. The AAIB have not criticised my performance. So with more than enough hours and a proven ability in an emergency, why have the following companies who were actively recruiting for the 777 at the time I applied, refused to give me an interview?
‘Crashed and now Burned’
I have kept the company names hidden, however, one day I’m sure they’ll manifest themselves.
Application for 777 First Officer:
I had originally applied to ‘ABC’ in Nov 08 and it had been hinted that when they started to recruit again, I would be first on the list for an interview. They started to interview in Oct 09 but they refused to invite me to interview.
In Feb 10 I was reliably informed that ‘ABC’ were very short of pilots and I should chase up my application again. ‘ABC’ pilots were then sent an email asking if they would refer any other pilots for a job. I know that my name was referred. ‘ABC’ by this point were having to cancel flights due to the fact they did not have enough pilots to crew them. There are rumours that 777 aircraft will need to be grounded in the summer if they do not get enough new pilots.
I received an email telling me that I have been refused an interview and the reasons are:
‘That management shy away from my name and application when it is mentioned, they do not like any publicity surrounding a figure in their company. They are concerned that journalists may follow me around and that this would generate too much attention to an employee.’
Application for 777 First Officer
- I applied to ‘DEF’ for First Officer (FO) 777 and had 2 replies. The first saying "we do not put Capt in the RHS" (right hand seat, eg First Officer’ seat). Then a second email from a different recruitment person,
"Dear Peter,
Hope you are well and sorry for my late reply. I was away for a few days and got so many emails to answer and was on a flight as well? First I want you to know that you can contact me directly any time and I like pilots who actually do something about their application rather than just sit there waiting for a reply in such a time we are in. It shows interest and I like that.
Second, it is a real pleasure to meet you even via email as what you did that day is remarkable and thanks to your experience and airmanship people survived. It’s a pleasure to email you and I hope we will have the chance to meet someday soon. Can you confirm the date you flew your last flight. I promise I will get back to you soon and will try my best to arrange something."
I emailed him and told him what the first one had said and he came back repeating what the first reply had said, "we don't put Capt in the RHS"!
Application for 777 Captain
I'd been given the Chief Pilot’s details of ‘GHI’ and contacted him. He said I definitely met the minimum requirements and would look into it.
A few weeks later a pilot agency got in touch asking if it was ok to pass "a prestigious airline" my details. I asked if it was ‘GHI’, and it was.
I contacted ‘GHI’ again and was told they had no vacancies. I called the agency back and told them, they said ‘GHI’ had been in touch half an hour ago saying they needed 2 x 777 capt.
Then it was advertised within BA and a pilot there forwarded on the email to me, it stated that to be considered for ‘GHI’, you had to have left BA (which I already had) so were readily available.
So I called ‘GHI’ again, and was told there were no vacancies!
Application for 777 Captain – short term
One of the BA trainers emailed me to say that the Chief Pilot for ‘JKL’ was at BA Training Centre and had said he needed some 777 Capts urgently on a short term contract. My name was mentioned and the trainer was told if I was interested to call the Chief Pilot. I did, and he told me that he only wanted trainers. When I told the original trainer who passed on the message the news about only wanting trainers, he was confused as it was not what he had understood it to have been.
2 Applications for 777 Captain
The Asian airlines refuse to interview anyone who has been involved in an accident, and do not look into the reasoning of the crash or how situations were dealt with. They ask for you to have ‘No accident/No incident’ on your licence. I contacted the CAA and asked what was on my licence, as the incident was not pilot error, they happily sent me a letter which states I have ‘No accident/No incident’. However, the CAA warned me that during training these airlines contact them to confirm this information and because the 38 was so high profile they would have to divulge this information, even though it wasn’t pilot error (so not shown on my licence) to an airline that asked.
Application for 777 Captain
‘MNO’ airline emailed mid Feb '10 saying I'd been invited to interview and what were my available dates. I sent them the dates. I've not heard anything back from them but an ex-BA pilot who is with them now said he had been flying with a manager who has said he thought the BA38 would go against me. Another reliable contact of mine had been in touch with someone in management at ‘MNO’ and had mentioned me, the response he was given was that they thought the 38 would go against me.
I emailed them to chase them up and then managed to get through to a pilot in recruitment on the phone. He told me they had had to delay interviews as they had had to postpone some aircraft deliveries. Unfortunately I had already found out that interviews were taking place and someone I know has one in March.
Application for 777 First Officer
Application sent off for 777 First Officer position, received standard email to say they were in receipt of my online application form. No phone number to chase application up. No email to chase application up.
Not heard anything from them since I submitted application.
Application: still waiting for final confirmation, 777 Captain
Originally ‘PQR’ said ‘NO’. Then an AAIB contact called his friend who happens to be in recruitment (in Nov '09). He was told that they had enough applicants that they didn't need to take a risk on me, but if there were no surprises in the final report then they would treat me like a normal pilot. When I knew the report was due I contacted this recruitment officer, AAIB contact also contacted them. The Officer then put wheels in motion and is pushing my case but basically they don't want to invite me to interview if the CEO will end up vetoing me. It's been nearly 6 weeks and I've heard nothing so you can imagine what I am thinking.
‘The Future’
There are days that I feel bitter. The accident wasn’t my fault, how I was made to feel whilst at BA, which lead to me thinking I had to leave them wasn’t my fault. I never expected to get any job but I did expect to get an interview with an actively recruiting 777 airline, they gave various excuses but ultimately the root cause has to have been my accident … that wasn’t my fault. The career that I had wanted to work in since I was a child has now been taken from me. I find myself unemployable in aviation at age 45. The future I had planned has been taken away. At times I feel my family would have been better off if I had not moved the flaps. Ok I would not be here, but at least they would have been financially secure and would not have to have put up with the last 2 years.
But I am here, and my wife and kids prefer the option of having me here. For this reason when the bitterness creeps in, we have to look at what we have, here and now. The boys still have their Dad and Maria is not a widow. We have no idea where the future lies but if we mope and moan then the future will never get better. We have to remain positive and attempt to turn the negatives into positives. Admittedly this can be hard, but it is something we have to do. We cannot wallow. We have to look at this as a new opportunity and seek to think outside of the box.
I will miss flying, it is in my blood, it’s all I ever wanted to do. However, there are some companies who have an involvement with ground based aviation who have contacted me to do occasional courses with them. I can see how doing work with them could be productive, both in the aviation field and other industries. They cover fear of flying courses and other teambuilding exercises. Other agencies have contacted me to ask for motivational talks and after dinner speaking (but these are few and far between).
I don’t see that these can be longterm careers so, as a family we are looking at other industries that we could work in … Maria is suggesting that I become a Publican! There are a lot of members of general public who I meet who say “I can’t understand why you’re not snapped up, if I needed a pilot surely you’d be near the top of any list” and others, “I’d want you to fly my plane … and I hate flying”, so although the idea of being a publican is a good prospect, I still know that my heart would prefer someone to have the same feelings as those members of the public and offer me the chance to fly their aircraft for them, whether that be a private jet or an airline jet.
At the time of the crash we could see that the UK media were trying to put out a 'good news' story. In a time when there is little good news, anything to motivate the country and help them feel good about being British would have been beneficial. I do not have a problem with the UK media who dealt with me personally, they all had a job to do and were very polite. There were some who had encounters with various members of my extended family who were more ruthless than they should have been which was distressing to hear about.
The interaction that was allowed with the USA media after US Airways 1549 event commanded by Capt Sullenberger, shows that pushing a good news story does help motivate a population and shows some spark differences in how the 2 capts can be treated under similar circumstances.
I do have another 'informal' blog here if anyone is interested and wants to interact. |
