Airline Employee Claims He Was Fired for Complaining About Pilot Steering With Knees

By Kate Bradshaw Tue., Sep. 6 2011 at 2:55 PM

​In 2006, Captain Patrick Hart was deadheading (flying in uniform, but not at the helm) on a Gulfstream International Airlines flight from Orlando to Miami when things got a little bumpy.

He said from where he sat in the back of the 19-seater he could see the small plane's wingtips bouncing erratically against the horizon.

When he walked into the cockpit, he said, he saw the pilot had an unorthodox, possibly hazardous, way of manning the controls.

"He would tap the controls with his knee," he said, or the back of his hand - something you don't do if you're not on auto pilot.

Hart said other crew members knew about the pilot's habit, though many were too scared to say anything to management. He said smaller airlines employ aspiring pilots, who pay upwards of $40,000 to get 250 flight hours under their belt. He said inexperienced pilots are afraid of jeopardizing their careers by complaining."They won't do a damn thing to lose their $40,000 investment," he said.

Hart said when he complained to management, he lost his job. He filed suit in 2007 under Florida's Whistleblower Act.

"I step up to the plate and I get my head chopped off," he said as he and Captain Kenny Edwards, a plaintiff in another whistleblower suit against the company, waited for the jury to deliver a verdict Tuesday afternoon.

Gulfstream International Airlines did not return several calls requesting comment. The airline filed for bankruptcy in 2010. In May, Chicago-based asset management firm Victory Park Capital bought the Fort Lauderdale-based carrier. The airline flies to several Bahamas destinations and shuttles some state lawmakers to and from Tallahassee during session.

The jury was still in deliberations this afternoon. A verdict is expected Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

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