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United canceled a flight from Salt Lake City Thursday afternoon after the pilot announced to passengers that he was too upset to fly, according to one passenger on board. The pilot, who may have been involved in a labor-related dispute with colleagues, said that he didn’t feel he could fly safely, said Paul Jacobson, an energy company executive who was aboard United Flight 416 to Denver. United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said in an e-mailed statement that the flight was canceled according to company procedures designed to ensure flight crews are prepared to fly.
Jacobson said he saw the pilot in a heated cellphone conversation at the gate before he boarded, and overheard the pilot saying that “he was going to complain to the union.” After the passengers were seated, the pilot made his announcement. “I’m roughly paraphrasing here, but the pilot came on the PA and said, ‘some of you may have witnessed an incident I was involved in at the gate. I’m not going to go into the details, but it was an interpersonal confrontation that upset me significantly to the point where I’m not focused enough to fly you to Denver. I feel like I may not be calmed and focused enough to fly to Denver for another hour,’ ” Jacobson said. Jacobson said another passenger questioned the crew and that passenger told him the incident stemmed from crewmembers from another United flight observing the pilot wearing his hat. United’s pilots union has been urging pilots to remove their hats when they “are likely to be viewed by management,” as a form of protest, according to a notice on ALPA’s website. “In the concourse, on the jetway, wherever. Show solidarity with your fellow pilots, show management our solidarity. Don’t wear your hat,” it says.
In a statement dated Jan. 15, the union instructed members to adopt the practice because “now is the time to show management that this pilot group is serious about regaining what was stripped from us during bankruptcy.”
Flying the friendly skies is getting scarier every day. Lets not put any more stress on these guys than they currently have.
Well, good for the pilot. Unusual, but any and all professionals are charged with monitoring their emotional equilibrium and not going to work if they are unsafe. How about a surgeon doing surgery the afternoon of his wife’s funeral?
Now, whether it was a pro-union work stopage, or truly a valid assessment of his emotions, it should still go on his record as a crew caused cancellation and treated accordingly.
If the pilot ain’t happy I ain’t happy.
lets hope the next piece of news has some facts linking the pilot’s heated phone conversation that he says was “an interpersonal issue” to the company-wide union issue. cuz this one sure doesn’t.
Too bad the Egypt Air 990 pilot didn’t do the same.
I love the score they are keeping on that 747.
Better safe than sorry I always say.
I wish drivers would do this.
It’s an industrial action.
I once worked for an airline. When the union decided to increase pressure, the number of defects pilots “found” in the plane shot WAY up. There is a difference between a defect that affects safety and the passenger reading light in seat 5A is out.
Someone wanted to stay in SLC?
Are the five Walk figures on the side of the KLM plane a record of how many pedestrians they’ve nailed?
Extremely responsible action taken by the pilot. As #2 said, if the pilot ain’t happy, I ain’t happy!
The pussy should have flown the plane, screw the passengers. Suck it up, walk it off. I don’t see why the hell the flight waitresses point out the exit doors either. It is a total waste of time. If we slam into the ground I can promise you there will be new exits all over that airplane. Now sit down, shut up and buckle up if you fell like it. Also, crack whores – no smoking! And how the fuck did you get matches by TSA anyway?
Air rage?
I applaud this guy. I think what he did took real guts.
The little mask that drops down? You are suppose to put that on so other people can’t hear you scream.
Good for him. Just look the post office to see what happens when employees let their personal grievance issues take over. We don’t want to add a new phrase to the lexicon… “Going Airline”.
#18–Rhonda==always good to check our facts. I’d read your links but they are blog entries and newspaper reports? Seems weak.
Where are your links to official NSTB reports and the like? Start with original sources rather than reports on reports?
Let’s throw this response into a few other careers:
“Sure, I’d like to remove the tumor from your brain, but I’m just too upset.”
“Sure, I’d like to save your family from a burning house, but I’m just too upset.”
“Sure, I’d like to drive you to an important business meeting, but I’m just too upset.”
“Sure, I’d like to arrest the guy who is car-jacking you, but I’m just too upset.”
See what I did thar?
@jjalsop
idk about you but i sure wouldn’t want a surgeon with impared ability operating on me, i sure wouldn’t want a pilot with issues flying, i dont want a taxi driver who is drunk flying.
I would much rather wait until they are better or get a new pilot/doctor/driver.
your firefighter/ cop examples are different, because those are immediate necessities, while docs/pilot/driver are not immediate necessities (well most of the time they aren’t)
Seriously, kudos to that guy, i would have done it too. Anyway I’m sure people were pissed but I’ll be damned if they didn’t get another flight within the hour.
Where do I start? Labor vs. Management, consumer vs. corp. Look at Hostes (think Twinkeys), the union forced Hostess to shut down. You stupid fools, union wins, now nobody has a job. Unions screw everybody, and now all the employies are on unemployment, good move, you F***ing A$$holes union idotids