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| During my time in Kenya, I reached 10.000hrs in the air. At this point, things were still good, mostly... |
The main culprit is of course all the struggles with the
salary deductions, but also not getting the contract renewed. On top of this,
after the simulator checks, there were issues with getting my license renewed.
After a line of misunderstandings and misinterpretations from my side, I suddenly
found my license being expired. Yes, the license is the responsibility of the
pilot. The problem is that I had come from outside the system and didn’t know
how it worked, and the answers I was getting presumed otherwise. As usual,
nobody admitted to any wrongdoings or unclear instructions, I was the only one
to blame.
Going back to the simulator briefly, I was surprised that I
actually managed to find enough motivation for it. Being treated like crap,
fighting for your salary and knowing the contract will end in a few months,
aren’t what you would call motivators. It still went decently, teamed up with a
Kenyan captain, a true union activist. A lot of multiple failures under time
pressure as usual, but not as bad as the first time. The new young instructors
were apparently getting some sense into the operations.
The hassle with my license did nothing to improve
motivation. One day in February, I found myself sitting in the afternoon
rush-hour traffic, heading home from work. As usual the traffic moved slowly or
not at all, with cars constantly changing lanes or even forming new ones. I was
just staring ahead, not really participating in the struggle for a better
position. It then came to me, like a powerful blow to the back of my head; I
can’t do this!
Fortunately the car wasn’t moving at this time, otherwise I
could probably have hit anything, or even worse, missed my exit and get stuck
in even worse traffic.
The next morning I was supposed to fly again, but it felt
impossible, no way I could go out there and do my job the way it is supposed to
be done. Even though I probably got some shite for it later, I am glad I was
man enough to refuse to fly. We have recently seen what a worst case scenario
can lead to, unfortunately.
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| This clearly shows what I felt. And I'm the one on the...eh left? No, right. Right. Actually it was before one hell of a party. |
Eventually at home I called scheduling. This is how that
discussion turned out. For those not involved in aviation, you should know that
the regulations forbid you to fly when fatigued (or exhausted, actually even
tired…).
- Hi, I can’t fly tomorrow, I am fatigued.
- Hi captain, so you are calling in sick?
- No, I am not sick, I am fatigued. I can’t fly.
- So you are calling in sick?
- No, not sick. Exhausted, tired. I can’t do my work.
- So we put you on sick leave for tomorrow, yes?
- Whatever…
This was one of three times I took sick leave between
January and March. Once I did it just to get the weekend off (yes, I know it is
bad morale, but keep in mind the countdown had already started…), another time
I was really down with the flu. I don’t know if these sick leaves had any
impact on what was to follow, maybe it was sort of a revenge, who knows. At
that time it felt like the only way to go forward.
The final flights
Early March I was preparing for our upcoming holiday to
Capetown (down with the flu), while counting down the remaining days of the
contract. Suddenly I received a roster change, where my previously agreed leave
weeks had been put in early. These were weeks I had had to fight for, to get
them where they were supposed to be. I wasn’t really worried, just upset, then
again you never knew where you had scheduling.
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| Enjoying Table Mountain, nice to be away from the problems, for a while. |
A few days later, when I finally got hold of scheduling,
they just told me to contact the chief pilot. This was out of the ordinary. I
talked to the fleet manager and he also told me to contact the chief pilot, it
was out of his hands, he said. But make sure you have the doctor’s statement
for the sick leave, he added. Now this was getting troublesome. Was it just
about the sick leave? Well, I did have the statement so no worries there. I
also made sure everyone involved received it. My voice was still down from the
flu, so I didn’t think I’d have a problem convincing anyone.
After a few attempts I got hold of the chief pilot, but he
told me to call again when I was well. Ok, apparently they did believe the sick
leave then. After the weekend I managed to get hold of him again. I almost
dropped the phone when he told me I was grounded! Well, sort of grounded. I had
been put on leave, while they were examining a report that had been filed on
me. He told me he would be in contact later that week.
This was something totally unexpected, an anonymous report!
He didn’t tell me what it was about; if it was something I had said or done.
The only thing he said is that while they investigate the report, I am not
allowed to fly.
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| This is the closet I got to flying during my last time. |
I couldn’t come up with having done anything wrong. The only
thing coming to mind was a visual approach where we stabilized late. Not too
late, mind you, but later than normally. On the other hand the co-pilot never
said anything. If you aren’t happy with an approach, by default you tell the
other guy to make a go-around, then later when at a safe altitude you discuss what
happened, what went wrong. By not commenting anything you sort of withdraw your
veto-right.
Apart from that one flight, I couldn’t come up with
anything. The co-pilot on it was a hardcore union guy, so not unthinkable that
it was a union move. I probably wasn’t too popular with those guys.
My usual enthusiasm was certainly gone during these last
flights, but as far as to break any rules? I don’t think so. I still did my
job, but nothing more.
It is also quite possible that it was something I’ve said. I
come from an environment where you can basically discuss anything on the
flightdeck. Normally what is said on the flightdeck, stays there. When
investigating, I learnt that in Kenya it is not the case. Apparently you need
to have a real self and a work self. A co-pilot told me that he never says
anything personal or against the company at work, because you never know what the
other guys agenda is.
This is a more likely scenario, as I spoke quite freely
during the last two months of flying. I did nothing to hide how I felt being
treated by the company, but instead talked about it. Maybe it was a mistake.
Naturally the chief pilot never called back, and the
following week he was on a type-rating course and had delegated his duties to
someone else. When I eventually got hold of the stand-in, he promised to
investigate.
Again another week went by, and naturally he never called back.
They just don’t do it. A few days, and a few attempts later, I did get hold of
him. There was nothing new, but he still needed more info. The only info he had
received initially was a small note on his desk. Now this substitute chiefpilot
was still a guy I had met a few times and thought him a reasonable fellow.
When he finally had some more info, almost a month had
already gone by. By now I was slowly giving up the hope of flying in Kenya
again. After talking to him it was clear. They had decided that as the contract
was so close to ending, they wouldn’t investigate the report. “Good”, I said,
“Sounds right. So when can I continue flying?” “You can’t fly until it is
investigated”, was the answer.
“Hold on”, I said, “So I can’t fly until it is investigated,
but you are not going to investigate?”
I had understood it perfectly. For one reason or another
they didn’t want me out flying again. The reason being political, financial (to
use up all the remaining leave) or whatever, I don’t know. I never got an
answer to what the report was about.
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| While enjoying a holiday on the coast, the Swedish place we stayed at, actually had a sauna. Built by a Finn, of course. It was actually a decent one, felt a bit strange though, bathing when temperature outside was 32... |
This was about the time when I emailed by boss at Finnair,
explaining the situation, asking whether it was possible to return earlier. As
things were, I had no desire to stay one single extra day in Kenya. They also
effectively managed to spoil the last few months we had in Kenya. Yes, I had a
lot of time off, if you can call it that, but I felt I was hanging in a loose
noose so wasn’t really able to enjoy it.
Fortunately Finnair were prepared to take me back earlier, I
was booked for return training a month earlier than originally planned. Thank
god for people who got things done, who actually answered emails, not hiding
even if the answers weren’t always pleasant. But things in Kenya were still far
from solved.
