A whistleblower pilot who has been a thorn in the side of
ORNGE management past and present has been suspended following his
testimony at a Queen’s Park committee probing the troubled air ambulance
service.
Veteran helicopter pilot Bruce Wade was
suspended with pay Thursday along with another unnamed ORNGE employee.
Both work out of the Thunder Bay regional centre.
Wade would not agree to be interviewed by the Star for this story.
An
ORNGE insider said “the optics are terrible,” referring to a suspension
coming two days after testimony that savaged both the old ORNGE bosses
and took shots at the system now in place. The insider said the
suspension was in the works prior to testimony and came because a
Thunder Bay ORNGE airplane pilot (ORNGE has both helicopters and
airplanes) had filed complaints against Wade raising “health and safety
issues” which, under an agreement with ORNGE unions, had to be
investigated.
The insider referred to Wade as a “good pilot with a
good record.” Wade has been a chopper pilot since 1995 and began flying
for ORNGE’s predecessor service in 2001.
An external investigation team is being sent to Thunder Bay to probe the complaints, which the source refused to describe.
On Tuesday, Wade told the committee he was thankful the executive “sycophants” at ORNGE were gone.
“Across
our system we rejoiced when the auditor delved further into ORNGE. It
was then we thought reasonable people would step in and stop all
helicopter pilot and engineer transfers into ORNGE once it became
evident just how bad things really were,” Wade said.
Wade was
referring to the decision to transfer all human and mechanical assets
from Canadian Helicopters Ltd., which used to provide choppers and
pilots under a contract with ORNGE, to the new ORNGE. That was a
decision spearheaded by founder Dr. Chris Mazza.
Wade and others
in the system believe ORNGE delivered a better service when it
contracted to an experienced helicopter company. Today at ORNGE, the
Star has found, there are few people experienced in running the aviation
side of the service.
Read more here: http://www.thestar.com
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