Embarasssing ALPA Magazine Blunder
- Thread starter Van_Hoolio
- Start date
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
First, you're not a member, so what does it matter to you.
Second, I'd guess not much being that the readership is around 55,000 people.
JaceTheAce
Well-Known Member
Media reporting FAIL:
Maybe she knows something's around the corner.........
SRA_kbad
Scooter Trash!!!
My only interest in why ALPA didn't bother to do a little fact checking, is because although this guy is one of you, he's pretending to me one of me.
A little fact checking would likely have uncovered it.
Like I said, I bet the next candidate for "Ethics Role Model" for the organization will probably be vetted a bit better. At least I hope so.
JoelT
Well-Known Member
There are plenty of "us" that are also one of "you". No flags were ever raised before this so, should every time a pilot lists their resume we should always do a background check? Do I need to do one for you? Do you want to do one for me?
I'll ask this question, whenever Air Force Magazine writes an article on someone in the USAF do you think they always do a background check first? I'm betting probably not because the chance that the guy is lying about his background is so far outside the realm of possibility that doing a check would be pointless, and probably a little insulting. Same with us as well.
Sure, if you like.
Can be like Spy vs Spy.You're missing the point I'm making. My point is, this guy's background should've been easy enough to catch if only someone made even the most cursory check, as the number of loose ends are huge just on the military side. I'm still somewhat perplexed how he wasn't caught until now, ie- why the flags you mention weren't raised before this when this one should've been easy to flag. It's not like he was claiming to be a used car salesman or a Wal Mart worker, or anything that a great number of people do.
And my "you" vs "I' was an answer to JTrain's query of what someone's interest would be who isn't (thankfully) an airline guy, so I answered it.
Minuteman
Shipoaster
In the vein of a cursory check. What kind of prior commitment would be required to be in a position to fly F-16s with an ANG unit? I mean is it something like 4 years of college plus a 10-year active duty commitment?
Add on four years of flying with American Eagle and it seems like anyone under the age of 35 would be very exceptional.
Add on four years of flying with American Eagle and it seems like anyone under the age of 35 would be very exceptional.
WacoFan
Bigly
I just want to affirm that I am truly a consultant to banks and various biotechs. I do a lot of charity work. I also have time in some taildraggers - most notably the fine Aeronca airplanes as well as Waco's. Chicks dig me because I rarely wear underwear...and when I do it is generally something unusual.
The degree definitely. He'd obviously be known in the unit he claimed to be with. But outside of that, he'd have been known by someone at either UPT, or follow-on F-16 training at one of the FTUs. Any other military flyer, especially fighter, if he ever discussed any background......there are things only someone having done or doing the job, would only know. And especially fighter, there's a vernacular that you know if someone has or dosen't have; and thus whether they are real or not. And that's what gets me. No red flags, but with the number of "me's" that also fly in the airlines, how could he not have been noticed? Did he have his bases THAT well covered? I doubt he could, simply for the reasons stated above. Or did he never talk about it? (that should be a red flag right there.....fighter guys not talking about themselves
). Or was he just that good?It just makes no sense. It'd be the same as someone claiming to fly for your airline......I guarantee anyone here could spot a fraud like that pretty quick, and maybe not too much longer to spot someone trying to claim to be from any other airline as a pilot. Even TomCatter here on JC was caught pretty quick by me, and I'd never met the guy! The guy here, he was working daily with people, and no one with a mil flying background caught anything out of the ordinary?
And again, he must've had a very thin lid holding this lie in.....why would he go public with himself for all to see, given there was a 100% chance of getting exposed?
Alchemy
Well-Known Member
I doubt there are many military pilots at the regionals, although I guess with the flowbacks at eagle there might be more there. Out of the hundreds of guys I've flown with at my regional, only 1 had military jet time, f-15's with the FANG, and he got the 'wtf are you here for' question when he told me that.
Alchemy
Well-Known Member
wtf was he there for, out of curiousity?
I honestly don't remember exactly, since it was years ago, but I think he had gotten hired at the regional before he ever got into the guard; I was an FO at the time so I guess he was comfortable with left seat in the ERJ and getting a few months off from time to time to do the guard thing. He said he wanted to transfer to the c-130 because those guys got week long layovers in vegas, but apparantly they only have one herc at jax. He also wore gloves when he flew; hadn't seen that before or since. That's about all I remember.
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
You're correct - but the problem is that the specifics of the fluff piece are sacred cows in this day and age. Falsified military service, as well as falsifying FDNY affiliations fall under Severely Uncool(tm) post 9-11 with two wars going on.
I think that sparks some of the outrage.
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Exactly, it should spark outrage...AT THE GUY THAT LIED!!!
Instead people are using it as a platform to rip apart ALPA.
More so, the people that are lobbing shots at ALPA aren't even ALPA pilots, or even guys that fly airliners. Basically, non-ALPA members are angry about somebody that was caught in a lie for an in house publication for ALPA members.
This wasn't Time or Newsweek; it was an internal publication.
And don't get me wrong, this guy was out of line, but people need to direct their anger in the proper direction.
Am not ripping apart ALPA. Am saying that for their part, the guy made ALPA look dumb in its own publication; maybe it would've been wise to have checked a bit in order to have possibly prevented that? But for his part, I'm wondering how he was able to get along as long as he did. That perplexes me.
In a [slight] defense of ALPA, I think there's often a certain amount of trust, blind though it may be. By the time a pilot is at the level where he'd by flying at a place like Eagle, it can usually be assumed that the guy is not lying about his experience. They didn't interview the guy for a job, they interviewed him for a magazine article.
The guy who is the subject of the article is pretty much where I place my hatred. It is NOT cool to go around saying you're something you're not, especially when part of that lie is that of military service.
Should ALPA have fact-checked? Eh, probably. But if the jerkoff hadn't lied in the first place, there wouldn't be an issue.
The guy who is the subject of the article is pretty much where I place my hatred. It is NOT cool to go around saying you're something you're not, especially when part of that lie is that of military service.
Should ALPA have fact-checked? Eh, probably. But if the jerkoff hadn't lied in the first place, there wouldn't be an issue.
