Moving Turned Into Most Stressful Vacation Ever

[gen3flygirl]

Well this is my first time ever getting fired from a job and I honestly couldn't be happier about it. I moved out to Saipan eager and willing to work for a company that I now believe to be criminally negligent and probably just as corrupt.

My frustrations began with the lack of knowledge about day to day operations when I first arrived. I was expecting to get my first weeks schedule as so as I arrived and filled out paperwork but that didn't happen. Usually I was told to go home(the hotel) and they would contact me later that night when I should come in the next say, often times they wouldn't tell me until the morning of. I was given 7 nights in the hotel on the company and after that I was to find my own housing. My first day off wasn't until 4 days after I arrived and I didn't know until 6 pm Sunday so I had no time to call apartments to set up an appointment to see places. HR's entire philosophy is to ask the other pilots. Well people have their own lives and being the new guy you don't want to piss them off immediately by asking 1,000 questions. A few suggested a real estate agent who was very nice but had no available units in my price range. About 11:30 they call me in for training at 1:30 and then called me back at 12:45 to say it was moved to tuesday( my only other day off). Well we end up being busy as shit Wed and Thursday leaving me no time to go sign a lease and move since all of the offices are closed by 5 and we didn't finish flying until 6ish. Friday morning I come at 7 to check my schedule of flights for the day and the first one isn't until 9:30. HR rolls in around 9 and very passive aggressively ask me if I am still in the hotel at which point I explain my situation. I get a response of "well we need you out of there now, go grab your stuff and we will have someone fill in your flights for you". This starts the most fucked up 48 hrs I will ever have in my entire life......

I get my stuff packed up and in the back of the early 90's POS honda civic and catch a flight over to saipan from tinian to sign my lease. There are no company cars available to us since people like to take them out joy riding on their breaks so I end up having to rent a car. Once I get to the apartment the property manager is very nice and accommodating but informs me I probably won't have power until Monday because the lease has to be notarized to in order for the utility company to turn them on. Not a huge deal just so long as I have a place to sleep and keep my stuff. I catch another flight back over to tinian so I can get my stuff on a flight over to saipan and move in. As I am unloading my bags from the car I get called in saying that I have flights. I should have just ignored my radio and gone about my business.....

The first 2 flights go off with out a hitch the third one probably aged me 20 years. About 8-900 feet above ground level my engine starts to show signs of distress with 3 pax aboard. I immediately pitch for best good and turn for the airport while simultaneously doing my emergency check list procedure. My worst nightmare happens and my engine dies and the prop stops turning. At this point in time I am probably a mile or more from the airport. I am looking at my options and I don't think I will make the runway so I land on the road perpendicular to the runway. Make it on the ground with no injuries to the paxs and only a few palm leafs in the wing tip. I'm shaky as all get out and asking my passengers if their okay trying to convene myself I'm okay. Emergency crews are on the scene and congratulating me on a job well done. My passengers are all smiles because they thought everything was normal and wanted to go flying again. Word finally reaches our head quarters and they come out with all the mechanics, the owner and his son. They strain a little bit of fuel, check the oil quantity look over the plane a little then turn to me and say "this does not bode well. Engines just don't stop" they are able to get it start and tell me I'm grounded for the time being go back and write up a report they will contact me later. I fill out the report and go to head back to saipan when HR stops me to try and comfort me telling me to go home and rest a few days then comes to the realization "do you even have a home". I leave for saipan more frustrated, scared, freaked out and pissed off I have ever been. All the emergency response guys are shaking my hand telling me good job and then the boss doesn't believe a word I say.

My friend on the island lets me stay with him for the night since I don't have power or ac ( it feels like southern Florida in the summer time here). We wake up in the morning to find out one pilot has a prop strike and another one scraped up a wing tip. A prop strike means the aircraft is out of service until the engine is checked over because usually something inside is fucked to hell. Neither one of the pilots say anything about it to anyone. The prop strike guy gets one and just starts walking to the hanger with out saying a word to anyone. Luckily no one was aboard and he was just a dumb ass that taxied into a ditch which brings up a shit ton of questions. I guess they drug test him but do not ground him. A few of the other pilots and myself go out later that night talking about the situation and we learn that before his incident occurred he was making weird radio calls. He was on the ground in saipan calling up as if he was at tinian. He wasn't talking to tower or ground just the traffic frequency for tinian. Finally another pilot get ahold of him and tells him he thinks he is at the wrong airport. The pilot calls the chief pilot to say that he is unfit for flight and to pull him from the line. Obviously they ignore it and he ends up having the prop strike.

I am woken up at 6 am by my friend saying that this same pilot has been missing for 2 hours and all 6 pax are presumed dead. The flights I between the islands are only 15 minutes, our flight followers who's only job is to track the planes failed to do so so nobody knew anything was wrong for 2 hours. Search and rescue thought the plane crashed at sea but helicopters were able to find the plane in an unpopulated part of the island that is all jungle. 3 people are dead including the pilot and 4 are alive 2 of which are in critical condition.

I have a meeting with hr, the chief pilot, and the owner of the company this morning to discuss my situation. The owner simi reads through what I wrote up and the proceeds to tell me that my actions could not be duplicated, in their mind there was nothing wrong with the plane and their are continuing to fly it. They terminated me because I put their equipment and the lives of the passengers at risk. I loved how he put the equipment first. So basically they think that I lied about the engine dying and since their are no whitnesses to back up my story I'm just a low time pilot that fucked up.

My ass is on the first flight out of here tomorrow morning and I could not be happier.

Oh and this is the second crash they have had in the past 11 months that has resulted in a fatality.

Edited October 7, 2013 by gen3flygirl

[Anden]

Holy shit!!! I probably would have come over the desk and strangled the owner at the meeting.

[gen3flygirl]

Holy shit!!! I probably would have come over the desk and strangled the owner at the meeting.

I like to think karma is a bitch but 3 people being dead because of it is a bit extreme. Plus I have a voice record in if him refusing to let me write what happened in the log books so if it happens again he is royally fucked. They still haven't determined the cause of accident from the first crash a year ago.

I did some research on companies he has started in the past. Almost all of them have ended in a fatality then a company name change and putting the wife in control and the another accident with fatality which leads to their shut down.

[2talltim]

Glad you got out alive and before your career got a black eye over it. Its amazing what people get away with anymore

sent via GS3 now Free

[redkow97]

Yikes. You're probably going to be asked to testify in the forthcoming lawsuit from the victims' families...

[turnone]

Think positive. You learned a lot and aren't stuck in the humidity. Glad you are ok. If you need some $ or anything to help get home let us know I'm sure we can get some for you.

[Gixxus Christ!]

Wow, that's a fucked up week. Glad you were able to set her down with no injuries.

[jbot]

you should probably report this to whatever authorities once you get back to the states.

 

glad to hear you're alive and well

[madcat6183]

you should probably report this to whatever authorities once you get back to the states.

 

glad to hear you're alive and well

Yeah kinda my thinking, reporting to OR will get you some props but don't think it will make it to the FAA or whoever. 

[DerekClouser]

It doesn't appear that they really care about their pilots or to make sure their equipment is safe for travel so it probably is a huge blessing in disguise. Good job on the emergency landing... Glad to hear you are okay.

[Ricochet]

wow... sounds like a bad situation all around.. glad you are ok.... if you need anything let us know..

[mojocho]

Holy schnikey! Glad you are safe!

[Tinker]

congrats on dodging a bullet.. hopefully the next job isn't as stressfull at least you got a good story out of it to tell in the break room of your next job.

[snot]

Wow....

World of beers will be happy your home too. Glad your OK.

[Cheech]

I like to think karma is a bitch but 3 people being dead because of it is a bit extreme. Plus I have a voice record in if him refusing to let me write what happened in the log books so if it happens again he is royally fucked. They still haven't determined the cause of accident from the first crash a year ago.

I did some research on companies he has started in the past. Almost all of them have ended in a fatality then a company name change and putting the wife in control and the another accident with fatality which leads to their shut down.

 

You did the right thing and you KNOW you did the right thing.  You saved the lives of everyone on board your flight in the face of a catastrophic engine failure and no one can take that away from you.  If I were you I'd reach out to the families of those who died in the crash and offer to testify, between your report (you kept a copy, right?), your voice recordings of them fudging the log books, and their history of fatalities, you may be able to at least help them out with their inevitable upcoming legal battle.

 

Let me know when you get back if you're coming back to Columbus, there'll be a beer waiting for you at WOB Easton upon your return.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Cheech

[Scruit]

Did your 3 passengers not back up your story of the engine dying?  or do they think you did something that killed the engine?

 

It's on the news in China: 

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?icid=2&d_str=20131007&id=41602

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20131006/NEWS01/131006004/Star-Marianas-plane-crashes-Tinian-4-survivors-confirmed

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=150716&cat=1

 

 

 

Get out of there as soon as you can.  Document, document, document.

 

EDIT:  Your incident is mentioned in this report:

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=150695

On Friday afternoon, a smaller Star Marianas aircraft made an emergency landing “on Broadway Avenue past the Tinian airport heading north.”

Edited October 7, 2013 by Scruit

[2fat2fly]

Yeah kinda my thinking, reporting to OR will get you some props but don't think it will make it to the FAA or whoever. 

You might be suprised at some of the people who read this. I would do an official report with the FAA if I were you. If nothing else you're covering your own butt. 

 

 

On another note, here's a company hiring pilots in the CMH area:

 

http://rjet.com/en/Employment/Career_Guides/Pilot.aspx

 

 

I work for them at the Columbus maintenance facility. PM me any questions you might have.

 

 

And I'm glad you're okay.

[Tpoppa]

Damn, Krystyn. First, I'm very relieved that you weren't injured. Second, excellent job landing that plane. Third, get the fuck out of there and back here where you belong. It's Miller Time.

Let us know when you arrive in Ohio. Fuck Spain.

 

Pretty much my thoughts except for the Spain/Saipan joke.

[flounder]

Definitely call the FAA and report it. I lost an engine in a 172 one time and had my GF and her sister with me at the time. After a loud pop, and running rough, I turned to and pulled that bisch back to get as much alt as possible before i lost the ability to maintain alt. I was able to get enough alt before the engine completely shit to glide back to the airport and put her down fine. I called about 2 days later to see if they knew what happened and they told me that they had just replaced 2 cylinders in the plane and that evidently "they didnt take" WTF.  Yeah, none of that was in the maintenance logs when I checked out the plane. 

 

Glad to hear your ok. Get the hell out of there before something bad happens to you.

Edited October 7, 2013 by flounder

[gen3flygirl]

I am going to sit down with my grandfather and father to fill out the proper forms. My grandfather is a retired airforce colonel, former base commander, and C-5 instructor. My dad is a an ex airforce Huey, chinook, C-5 pilot as well as a current 767 captain with American. My family has been very supportive through the whole move. Originally my dad thought I was making a rash decision on wanting to come home but after Saturday and Sunday he said to get my ass back on the next plane. The manager of the apartment I rented was really cool about the entire situation and is going to refund 100% of my money and let me break my lease.

The problem with my passengers is they are Chinese and spoke almost no English. They market their tours as half hour flight lessons. Most of the time we just use hand signals and just let them "fly" in a circle around the island. I had a father and I couldn't tell if she was the mom or daughter because she looked so young but either way a female in the back and then a kid no older than 8 or 9 up front.

I really want to see the report from the airport emergancy response guys. The ARFF truck guys said they herd me declare an emergancy and I was going to land on the road. Local police and Ems said they saw and herd my engine not working.

[cmh_sprint]

Well damn that fills in the blanks from your FB response the other night. Glad your safe and were able to make sure your passengers were as well. See you when you get home.

[baptizo]

Glad to hear you're okay and you definitely handled it like a pro.  Sorry to hear about the stupid backlash from the pinhead owner but getting back stateside is the right thing to do - get home safe, eh.  

 

And it sounds like the lot of us should buy you some BEERS.   

[Revelstoker]

• screw us, send it to the media.

[ReconRat]

Wonder if I got any contacts in the Chinese Ministry of Public Security

 

Come on home young lady, take a break

[Ron505]

Glad to hear you're ok. I cannot imagine being in that situation, especially in a different country. What a shady operation. Scary shit! Takes me back to when we flew over Jamaica with some 12 year olds piloting us....yikes!