Fraudulent PRD Entry, Lost Career Opportunities, and Settlement Advice

W

Wingless1

Well-Known Member
Hoping for some career guidance from the wealth of experience here.

A couple of years ago, I was terminated from a large 135 charter operator after reporting multiple serious aircraft safety issues and refusing to fly an aircraft I believed was unsafe. I had documented the discrepancies through normal company procedures. The company pushed back, found someone else to fly the airplane, and later terminated me. The FAA subsequently investigated and took action against the company. I stand by my decision and would make it again.

Following my termination, the company entered a "professional disqualification" in my PRD. This was fraudulent and purely in retaliation. Professional disqualification has a specific regulatory meaning, and no qualifying event occurred. I had no failed checkrides or other disqualifying events. I had a flawless record with the company and in my career.

That false PRD entry effectively derailed my career. Several major airlines and fractional operators declined to move forward with my applications, specifically citing my PRD.

For context, I'm a former military aviator, ATP-rated captain, and qualified on multiple aircraft. Between lost income and future opportunities, the financial damage potentially reaches into the millions.

I filed a legal claim, which is now approaching trial. The evidence strongly supports my position, including the FAA investigation.

Recently, the company requested settlement terms, and we are getting ready to enter negotiations; my attorney submitted a settlement demand that included a correction of the fraudulent PRD entry. Within hours of receiving that demand, the company changed my PRD from "professional disqualification" to "resignation."

I have two questions for those familiar with airline/fractional hiring or employment disputes:

1. Can my career damage be repaired?

I have friends involved in hiring at two companies that previously rejected me. Both indicate that even with the corrected PRD, permanent applicant records and internal "do not hire" flags may prevent reconsideration.

My attorney suggested obtaining a reference letter from my former employer, but the hiring professionals I've spoken with don't believe that would help.

Has anyone successfully overcome something similar? Is there anything specific I should request as part of a settlement to restore my employment opportunities, or are those doors effectively closed?

2. What should I be seeking in a settlement?

My attorney has made a seven-figure demand. I don't expect reinstatement and probably wouldn't want it. The PRD, though, has done a lot of damage to my career. I applied to hundreds of positions and got a lot of doors closed in my face as a result of the fraudulent PRD. Those opportunities are likely lost to me.

Beyond back pay, lost future earnings, and correcting the PRD, what remedies should I be considering? How do you compensate someone for potentially permanent damage to their aviation career? I've effectively been grounded for over two years. Many positions now require at least 100 hours of flight time within the previous 12 months, creating another significant obstacle to returning to work. Even with a corrected PRD, I now face the additional expense and time required to rebuild my flight-time recency. That's another consequence of what happened that I'm trying to address in settlement.

I'm intentionally withholding identifying details because litigation is ongoing, and I have counsel handling the legal issues. I'm primarily interested in practical advice from experienced pilots, hiring managers, and anyone who has dealt with similar circumstances. I just want to return to professional flying.

I did the right thing by refusing an unsafe aircraft. Two years later, my PRD is finally corrected, but the damage to my career remains. How do I fix that?
 
Mate, I hope you can squeeze that company biggly. The fraudulent entry, I suspect, but don’t know, will follow you in spite of the ‘correction’. You also now have a two year hole in your career path after a resignation, which is cumbersome to explain away. Best of luck to you, but that cost you a whole bunch.
 
People have overcome worse scenarios and re-entered the career. Most extreme example is the Northwest guy who had all his certificates revoked by the FAA. Got sober, retrained, and got rehired. You'd have to google it. Was a long time ago. Sounds like you have only been out a couple years and still fairly young. Legit settlement depends on how old you are. If you could never fly again, I'd say the career, especially for an ex-military guy in good standing, would be maybe 3 mil, at least, plus attorney fees. But you never had the chance and there is never any guarantee that a even those with the brightest futures won't be unlucky and not get as far in the career. So many variables. Sound like you missed out on a couple years at the lower end of the career which doesn't amount to as much money wise. If you could get attorney fees plus seven figures, I'd say that's pretty good. As far as re-entering the career, it's like the multiple DUI with FAA certificate action scenario. You just gotta go backwards until you find a place to start over. 135 freight maybe. Then a regional. As an ex-military guy I'd think you'd have a good networking base out there to tap.
 
DE727UPS said:
People have overcome worse scenarios and re-entered the career. Most extreme example is the Northwest guy who had all his certificates revoked by the FAA. Got sober, retrained, and got rehired. You'd have to google it. Was a long time ago. Sounds like you have only been out a couple years and still fairly young. Legit settlement depends on how old you are. If you could never fly again, I'd say the career, especially for an ex-military guy in good standing, would be maybe 3 mil, at least, plus attorney fees. But you never had the chance and there is never any guarantee that a even those with the brightest futures won't be unlucky and not get as far in the career. So many variables. Sound like you missed out on a couple years at the lower end of the career which doesn't amount to as much money wise. If you could get attorney fees plus seven figures, I'd say that's pretty good. As far as re-entering the career, it's like the multiple DUI with FAA certificate action scenario. You just gotta go backwards until you find a place to start over. 135 freight maybe. Then a regional. As an ex-military guy I'd think you'd have a good networking base out there to tap.
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I'm in my 50s so not a lot of time left in the career.

And I did not do anything wrong here, so I should not have to go backwards in my career. This isn't like I got a DUI or tested hot on a random. I reported a number of safety issues and got retaliated against.
 
DE727UPS said:
People have overcome worse scenarios and re-entered the career. Most extreme example is the Northwest guy who had all his certificates revoked by the FAA. Got sober, retrained, and got rehired. You'd have to google it. Was a long time ago. Sounds like you have only been out a couple years and still fairly young. Legit settlement depends on how old you are. If you could never fly again, I'd say the career, especially for an ex-military guy in good standing, would be maybe 3 mil, at least, plus attorney fees. But you never had the chance and there is never any guarantee that a even those with the brightest futures won't be unlucky and not get as far in the career. So many variables. Sound like you missed out on a couple years at the lower end of the career which doesn't amount to as much money wise. If you could get attorney fees plus seven figures, I'd say that's pretty good. As far as re-entering the career, it's like the multiple DUI with FAA certificate action scenario. You just gotta go backwards until you find a place to start over. 135 freight maybe. Then a regional. As an ex-military guy I'd think you'd have a good networking base out there to tap.
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My response above may come across as a little harsh. Apologies if it comes across that way. It was not intended that way. I recognize you are trying to help. I can't edit it for some reason.
 
Wingless1 said:
My response above may come across as a little harsh. Apologies if it comes across that way. It was not intended that way. I recognize you are trying to help. I can't edit it for some reason.
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No worries. Get as much as you can out of the settlement. It's hard to predict what a career is worth since there are so many variables. You say you should not have to go backwards and also say your friends in the biz feel you have no chance to get hired at their shops. Also you haven't flown in two years. The settlement is to make up for the lost time and I hope you do well. That said, if you want to re-enter the career after not flying for two years, you will find it hard to get hired at the same level you were at before.
 
CoffeeIcePapers said:
Listen to your attorney. A 15 year airline career is easily worth mid to high 7 figures. I wouldn’t post anymore until this is resolved.
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He actually asked me to do this. He helped me draft the post. While he has experience with aviation employment, there are not that many people with experience with PRD violations. So I suggested a couple of aviation forums I have been a member of in the past to ask these questions. We don't have access to a chief pilot to give us the info we are looking for.

We are struggling to find some creative ways to get me back in the air without the company hiring me back and sending me through FSI or another training provider. I think ultimately a settlement will be some funds to get current and then find a way to build some time with the settlement funds.

Thank you all for your help.
 
If they're fishing for a settlement it's because their council has advised them that taking this to trial is going to be very very expensive for them.

So your goal is to pick a number that is only slightly less very very expensive. But your lawyer knows this.

7 million in lost income and opportunities, plus 1 million punitive, plus 100k to get you current again sounds like a not bad starting point. Dont let the bastards off light.





I
 
Be interesting to learn what the perceived 'serious aircraft safety issues' were, and what the weather was like on the day you refused to fly......

Sorry, but someone has to ask this. At the single-pilot Pt. 135 airline I flew for we had a couple of similar issues.
 
gliderboy said:
Be interesting to learn what the perceived 'serious aircraft safety issues' were, and what the weather was like on the day you refused to fly......

Sorry, but someone has to ask this. At the single-pilot Pt. 135 airline I flew for we had a couple of similar issues.
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I can't be specific other than that it involved control of flight issues. Weather was not a factor at any point. This was not a small operator. We had many pilots and aircraft and multiple bases.

Every pilot I have shared this with who knows the specific issues has a WTF moment and asks me why I stuck around to even argue. I can tell you this was not the first airplane with a similar issue.
 
Fixtur said:
If they're fishing for a settlement it's because their council has advised them that taking this to trial is going to be very very expensive for them.

So your goal is to pick a number that is only slightly less very very expensive. But your lawyer knows this.

7 million in lost income and opportunities, plus 1 million punitive, plus 100k to get you current again sounds like a not bad starting point. Dont let the bastards off light.





I
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If he is 50 plus and gets 8 mil, I don't think he needs to worry about getting current again.
 
do the math on getting hired at a legacy day 1 of your termination on what your career expectations would have been, add some for benefits and the 18% retirement. then whatever harm they may have caused on top of that.
 
"If he is 50 plus and gets 8 mil, I don't think he needs to worry about getting current again."

Sure, but one has to show earnestness in pursuing the career to make the loss and punitive amounts look good to a judge either in the trial (where they will ask why a settlement wasn't reached), or in a settlement that the judge has to sign off on.
 
bp said:
do the math on getting hired at a legacy day 1 of your termination on what your career expectations would have been, add some for benefits and the 18% retirement. then whatever harm they may have caused on top of that.
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This is a good start, however for the OP - lost wages is from your previous employer, not lost wages from an employer you didn’t work for. Extrapolate out what you were earning, including benefits times the years remaining in your projected career, plus legal fees.

It’s easy to conflate all the reasons for a settlement, but there’s a distinction between lost wages from the job you were terminated from and opportunity costs (loss) from a job you didn’t have. We all could’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars as the world’s best anesthesiologist, but we were never an anesthesiologist to begin with so it’ll be hard to make that argument to a jury.

For entertainment purposes, do the same if you did get hired at a legacy, then pick a number between the two.
 
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CFI A&P said:
This is a good start, however for the OP - lost wages is from your previous employer, not lost wages from an employer you didn’t work for. Extrapolate out what you were earning, including benefits times the years remaining in your projected career, plus legal fees.

It’s easy to conflate all the reasons for a settlement, but there’s a distinction between lost wages from the job you were terminated from and opportunity costs (loss) from a job you didn’t have. We all could’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars as the world’s best anesthesiologist, but we were never an anesthesiologist to begin with so it’ll be hard to make that argument to a jury.

For entertainment purposes, do the same if you did get hired at a legacy, then pick a number between the two.
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Makes total sense. However, we have very strong evidence in the form of written and verbal statements that the reason I was not hired by specific operators was due to the fraudulent PRD statement.
 
What I am really looking for here is a creative suggestion on how to get back into the workforce.

Is a run through at FSI for recurrency on an aircraft I am typed in going to answer that or do I need to get some time under me by renting a GA and punching holes in the sky? Or is there something more creative, like doing a couple of types at FSI?

I know I can't rent a small jet to build time, but will hiring companies accept piston time in a 172?

What other creative ways could I become marketable to hiring companies?
 
Wingless1 said:
I would rather work. Be nice to have that sort of cash in the bank. But I would rather fly.
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You realize on very modest returns 8 mil in an investment nets you 300k a year in income. You could live off 200k and take the other 100k a year and fly whenever you want.

I’m just saying.
 
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