Melissa Pemberton/Andrzejewski Claims Sexism Affected Decisions That May Remove Her from Aerobatic Prominence (Part 1)
News and Analysis by Jim Campbell, ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief
Preface: This was a brutally difficult story to write… both because of the subject matter as well as the fact that a number of people are feeling some serious pain over the circumstances involved… but before the general media dives in and does an incomplete sensationalistic take on this and damages the aviation community with the kind of ignorance that is all too common when they wade into our world, we’ve done our best to look extensively at the most serious issues raised in this matter to seek some clarity.
This is what we have uncovered at this time, and is probably not the last word we’ll say on the matters discussed.
Melissa Andrzejewski (also referred to in various documents, by her married name, Melissa Pemberton) is an extraordinary aerobatic pilot and has been a rising star in the airshow and competition aerobatic community for some time. This talented young woman is not just a good aerobatic/airshow pilot; she is justifiably one of the best in the business – no matter the gender that she is compared to. She has been mentored and heavily promoted by such luminaries as Sean Tucker and having flown all over the world, and at some of the most prestigious competitions and airshow events -- while also participating in a number of other extreme aviation and non-aviation sports. Melissa has recently decided to make some public complaints, statements and accusations against members of the sport aviation community… and specifically the International Aerobatic Club, The US Unlimited Aerobatic Team, many of her team members and fellow airshow performers, the EAA, the Oshkosh Advisory Team, and some airshow
events and associated personnel. Her complaints are passionate, pretty upsetting, have been repeated a number of times via social media, are getting a LOT of attention from her fans, and are accompanied by some significant detail – much of it now in contention.
Melissa believes that there is a significant sexism problem in sport aviation… and that a ‘Good Old Boys’ Network is ruling much of the sport aviation community and making decisions that tend to inhibit or discriminate against women in this overtly male industry. And, on the face of it, especially with such stories popping up all over the world in all manner of disciplines, it seems an easy story to believe… initially.
Until the facts particular to her statements, are examined.
Most prominent have been her complaints that have come about as a result of her recent and dramatic removal from the US Aerobatic Unlimited Team and her ‘disinvitation’ from the airshow roster for AirVenture 2016.
2016 has been a tough year for her… in late April/early May, she announced (via Facebook) that her husband of seven years, Rex Pemberton, sued her for divorce and reportedly informed her of this difficult state of affairs by email, the day after the legal papers were put forth. Additionally; a number of airshow organizations and personnel have complained about her being difficult to work with, and that she had failed to live up to a number of agreements that she was allegedly committed to, and to top it off, Melissa has now also alleged that she has been sexually harassed and even ‘assaulted’ by a fellow aerobatic pilot… and all this, she claims, is a function of her being outside the normal environs of the ‘Good Old Boys’ Network that she believes to be a ruling force in the aviation world -- especially the sport aviation side of things.
In a series of heavily commented and followed Facebook postings, Melissa decries the sexism of the sport aviation community, as she has allegedly experienced it, at the hands of decision makers within the US Team and IAC, as well as EAA and its Oshkosh Advisory Team. She claims that her recent divorce dilemma and some Facebook pictures/comments displaying/discussing a significant physical makeover (new hair color and the like) as well as some associated personal discussions, have resulted in sexist decisions that discriminate against and belittle her gender and her alleged ability to deal with some admittedly trying circumstances.
The charges are explosive… and have caused all involved to VERY carefully document the circumstances leading up to this point and examine their decision-making processes VERY carefully… and after a number of days of recent investigation, ANN has had a chance to examine hundreds of documents, emails, Facebook messenger exchanges, engage in dozens of calls and interviews, and take part in a number of examinations of these charges and much associated information that, mostly, refute Ms. Andrzejewski’s stunning and worrisome claims.
It’s been a difficult and complex slog through a number of records from the accused organizations and personnel, and dozens of conversations with parties located all over the world, to try and develop a clear picture of why Melissa Andrzejewski finds herself in such dire straits and feeling that she is at the center of a nexus of discriminatory sexist attacks.
On the face of it… it seems like such an easy story to believe. Over 90% of aviation is male and much of the male population is older and heir to outdated views and values of what is, today, appropriate in male-female relationships, communication and attitudes. Recent efforts to allow aviation to be more inclusive of non-white and/or non-male participation have been a tough process with even the exemplary efforts of the Women in Aviation and 99s movements producing only incremental results that allow this industry to more readily reflect the real world from within its ranks. The effort IS working, mind you, but it’s just really, even painfully, slow… and even more so when you start trying to recruit from non-white populations. If anything, it’s a wonder that such awful charges aren’t heard more and more… no matter their veracity.
Aviation needs all colors and genders… desperately… if it is to survive and grow to be viewed as more inclusive rather than the exclusive aura it pervades up to this point.
BUT, no matter how much we need to enhance our diversity, we must do so based on truthful, credible efforts that are positively disposed to build a synergistic and cooperative atmosphere in which all of aviation can be viewed as mutually supportive but also willing to engage in critical self-examination when the need strikes… like right now.
Because at this moment, Melissa Andrzejewski finds herself in the middle of a storm of controversy following her publication of a number of charges of corruption, sexism, sexual harassment, dishonesty, misogyny and other issues that have been widely publicized by her (mostly via social media) and are now creating serious concern over the harm this may bring to the industry, at large – even if her statements turn out not to be credible. The problem is, that as we investigate carefully, much of the storm is of her own making.
There are a few major aspects to the dilemma that Ms. Andrzejewski now finds herself in and for the moment, we feel that we have an appreciable handle on three primary focal points…
- Her removal from the US Aerobatic Team by the IAC and its removal committee.
- Her disinvitation from flying as a featured airshow performer at the EAA AirVenture Fly-In and airshow by the Oshkosh Advisory Team.
- Her complaints about her treatment within the airshow industry by its promotors, organization and fellow pilots
Mind you; there are a few other complaints and charges that have been brought forth… including some very serious charges about alleged and (as yet) unproven efforts by a specific pilot, to sexually harass/assault her… and while we’re looking into that, the matter requires more evidence, more expertise, and some upcoming legal assessments to allow us to engage in further news and commentary… so for the moment, we’re holding off on that issue until better and more comprehensive information and expertise has had a chance to reveal itself.
On March 9th, 2016, US Unlimited Aerobatic Team Manager Mike Steveson submitted a detailed document to IAC Boss Mike Heuer in order to start the process necessary to remove Melissa Pemberton from the team.
“This shall serve as formal notice to seek a ‘Request for Initiation of a Removal Action’ of Melissa Pemberton as a current member of the US Unlimited Aerobatic Team in accordance with the IAC Policy and Procedures Manual, Section 505 (3) (d) and 505 (4) (c) ii (1). The IAC Policy and Procedures Manual, Section 505 has been included in Appendix ‘A’ for reference with the relevant sections being highlighted.”
The document lays out an extensive process by which such actions might take place…
“The Team Manager has the authority to initiate such an action according to 505 (4) (c) ii which states:
“When any of the relevant conditions apply, or when the Team Manager considers that a
violation of the standards of conduct for the US Aerobatic Team has occurred, the Team
Manager shall:
- Notify the President of the IAC of Request for a Removal Action
- If the Team Member is a member of the US Unlimited Aerobatic Team, similarly notify the President of UAUSA
- Notify the Team Member that a Removal Action has been initiated
- Submit to the President of the IAC, within seven days, a formal written statement outlining the events and conditions which necessitated removal of the Team Member. This statement will include all pertinent information, the names and contact information for any material witnesses, and any supporting documentation which the Team Manager is in possession of which is relevant to the complaint. This statement will be provided to the Team Member within seven (7) days”
The document outlines the rules for such processes, rules that have been in place for some time and have obviously been given serious thought and consideration. It is not a “we don’t like you, go away’ type of affair… there are procedures and in the course of dozens of pages of documents, and appeals of those documents, it appears that IAC was working the processes to the letter."
As to the reason for all this, they made it clear that her personal conduct was at question.
Under the heading, “STATEMENT of VIOLATION of CODE of CONDUCT” Steveson laid out the following grievances.
“On or about March 1, 2016 and subsequently on March 2, 2016 and again on March 3, 2016, Melissa Pemberton violated the Code of Conduct as referenced by IAC Policy and Procedures Manual, Section 505 (3) (c), Section 100 (6), and Section 100 (8) by posting to allthingsaero.com. Melissa Pemberton posted an article written by her that included unfounded, slanderous, and potentially libelous statements which included the headline “Corruption: US Unlimited Team Funds”. This article appeared on the homepage of the allthingsaero.com website. A copy of the article headline is included in Appendix ‘B’. A snapshot of the headline which appeared on the website is included in Appendix B. I do not have a copy of the article since it was pulled down by the website owner. I do not know for what period of time this article appeared on the website before it was taken down by the editor, Karl Koeppen. It is my understanding through communication with other team members and Michael
Heuer that the takedown from the website was initiated by Karl Koeppen after he was made aware of the article. It is also my understanding that Karl Koeppen then notified Jack Pelton, CEO of the EAA and apologized for it appearing in the first place. While unclear how long the article was viewable, it was posted long enough to receive the attention of other team members, IAC members, and the international aerobatic community.
Melissa also posted links to the article on her personal FaceBook page under the name of Melissa Dawn. It received several comments in the comment section from her other “friends” on her FaceBook account. Melissa also speculated on this page that if the article was taken down that would indicate a “cover-up” of the corruption allegations. Karl Koeppen from the allthingsaero.com website presumably made a comment they had taken the article down and the reasons why it had been removed. The screen capture of his comments are also included in Appendix ‘B’ Melissa Pemberton also posted her tirade to the US Unlimited Aerobatic Team FaceBook page which included the following accusation:
‘If this get’s (sic) deleted, I guess we can add cover up to the with?holding (sic) and corruption’
After the posting was brought to my attention, the post was deleted in its entirety as the FaceBook page Administrator. I have included a screen capture of the post. Melissa’s post was up on the Facebook page for over 23 hours and received multiple comments. I have included a screen capture of the post as Appendix ‘C’
During this same period of time, Melissa Pemberton sent a link to the allthingsaero.com article and accusations of corruption to the US Team Member email distribution list. This list not only included the current team members, but also Coco Bessiere, Nikolay Timofeev, and Tim Just.
Rob Holland and Tim Just were the only ones that replied to the email distribution list. They both condemned Melissa Pemberton’s actions. Rob Holland then received replies from Melissa with the following statement ‘Good for you Rob. You can keep sucking their (anatomical reference deleted) but personally I don't stand for the lies and corruption anymore.’ And in another email to (Name deleted) “Actually it's all right... I'm asking You to speak honestly while you are (deleted) around on sweet (Name deleted) left right and center. What was I thinking?” I have included the emails as Appendix ‘D’.
After Rex Pemberton (her husband) asked Melissa to take down the FaceBook posts and go through the appropriate channels to resolve the dispute, the posts to her FaceBook page were deleted including all 3 of the comments. This again was not before multiple reposts and comments from the international community including sympathies from the Australian aerobatic community stating that she could fly for them in future International contests.
I understand that this behavior originally was a response to the IAC and the US Team manager denying her request for reimbursement for expenses that she incurred during and in preparation for the WAC 2015. That in no way excuses this egregious and abhorrent behavior. If she had issue with her denial of reimbursement, she could have made a case publicly or privately with IAC Team Council, Michael Heuer, and the Team Manager.
The path that she chose to air her grievance by posting the allthingsaero.com article has damaged the reputation of the IAC, EAA, IAC Board of Directors, and the Team Manager. Melissa has damaged the IAC’s relationship with the other team members, the IAC membership, as well as the international community. This will indeed make it more difficult now and in the future to raise the funds needed for a successful team and to recruit top talent such as Coaches.”
Melissa’s narrative (as shared with ANN directly) in dealing the team removal basically states that she beleives that the IAC is an old boy’s club incapable of dealing properly with a talented woman in this day and age—especially one going through some emotional upheaval and unwilling to be minimized by improper discussion of her gender. She accused them of corruption and of cheating her. All this was preceded by her complaints of inadequate reimbursement for some expenses incurred while acting as a US Team member in the 2015 timeframe.
In an extensive series of Facebook messenger communications, Melissa commented on the issues she faced, and noted the problems with IAC started when, “The(y) sent a letter from Mike Steveson our team manager to kick me off the team from last year to make me (ineligible) to try out this year. That's their thanks for getting 3rd in the world and to be the only American on the podium. (Expletive). In the end I got 1000 (dollars) total from the 98000 in the account.”
In this timeframe, Melissa signaled both her intent to appeal the matter (which reportedly may take until November to fully resolve) and told ANN that she was ‘in litigation’ with IAC. When asked why we hadn’t heard more about this before her recent Facebook revelations (which were more about the Oshkosh decision than IAC’s), she replied, “It's not public yet because we are still litigating.”
She also explained that she was being harassed, that someone was sending her sexually explicit, and harassing emails (anonymously) and that at least one team member had made advances towards her. The only corroboration of that is a note from her husband in which he notes that both of them had been drinking during an alleged incident, and that he was a part of the act that she was protesting.
IAC appears to be taking this very seriously – which Melissa believes (and has stated) is an implicit admission of their guilt. IAC has told ANN that this is not the case, but due to the seriousness of the charges and the potential impact on the organization, that it has asked for expert legal help in regards to producing an independent overview of the dilemma at hand. A legal investigator has been assigned to the matter and all of Andrzejewski’s many charges are in the process of being examined, despite the fact that this represents a significant expense to the fiscally strapped aerobatic organization.
Still; the posting to the AllThingsAero site seems to have been universally condemned, and created a difficult public situation for the ever-cash-poor US Team and IAC. Both Melissa’s husband and the site’s Publisher condemned the accusations of corruption by Ms. Andrzejewski against the team while an immediate apology was made to EAA’s Jack Pelton over what ATA’s Karl Koeppen called her “libelous” posting. Even more intriguing is the fact that while Koeppen took responsibility for deleting her post, it was actually a Senior Staffer, a women of high-standing within the airshow community, that took the post out of public display.
Even Ms. Andrzejewski’s own communications show that she has admitted some fault with her actions… but not so much that she feels she deserved the team removal action.
Further examination reveals that the offending article did damage/embarrass/tarnish the US Team, nationally and internationally, did create some serious issues with team politics and the perception of the team by outside parties—all critical considerations in light of the fact that the team survives mostly on the tenuous goodwill of others and is highly dependent on sponsorship and donation to field a team each year.
So serious was the IAC response and their concern for their image as this attack took place, that they considered a year’s stand-down (of the US Teams) in order to deal with the fallout, get their house in order, and make sure that they could go forward without further damage. Mind you, IAC is like most special interest volunteer organizations with previous little actual staff support… there is a fair amount of dysfunction and disorganization… and a lot of personal politics to deal with, from time to time. Further, in light of a number of threats of legal action and what appears to now be an actual suit against IAC, the organization, which has little in the way of reserve funds for such litigation, had serious concerns about what that might do to the organization and its mission. Right or wrong, it had much to worry about.
However; as IAC considered the issues raised by Steveson’s request for Pemberton’s removal, and Melissa’s responses and requests for reconsideration, the matter was put in front of a specifically dedicated removal committee… comprised (in total, including an alternate) of three men and three women.
There were two meetings accomplished on the matter by the middle of April, under the guidance of Bruce Ballew, the chairman of the review Committee who reported that, “The committee has determined, by a unanimous vote, that the Request for Initiation of Removal Action for Mellissa Pemberton has merit and warrants further action by the IAC Board of Directors.”
A close analysis of the documents thus far received, show that the removal committee is far from being an Old Boy’s Club, comprising a 50-50 split in terms of gender ratios, that much of the matter preceded her divorce, that some of her own angry communications were potentially libelous, sexually explicit, and contemptuous of the team and her fellow team members. And while Andrzejewski may have raised some legitimate questions about what appears to be sloppy accounting within the volunteer organization, we have yet to see evidence of anything that rises to the level of corruption or fraud that she has alleged/described. Further, and finally, the team removal action was arrived at via a unanimous decision on the part of those assigned with this duty.
Mind you; we have also seen evidence of at least one communication in which Ms. Andrzejewski was attacked with pseudo-sexual dialogue… but those attacks come from an as yet unidentified email address with apparent access to (and loosely quotes) some emails sent to just a few members of the US Team community… including herself. ID’ing this party is a potentially important step but with the nature of the internet, potentially impossible. Still; there is no evidence or reason to blame IAC for this vicious message.
It was Pemberton’s right to ask for additional reconsideration and that process is currently underway… but so is a persistent legal threat/demand put forth by Melissa in which she would forgo her legal claims, including her sexual harassment concerns, as part of a settlement agreement that would allow her to dictate terms about the future conduct of the organization. Andrzejewski has told ANN that IAC is trying to settle with her (and this she asserts, is also evidence of their guilt), but that detail is thus far unsubstantiated and seems improbable before the results of the investigator have come about.
And yet… there is more to the story than just her elimination from the US Team. She is now being told that she is unwelcome to fly at this year’s AirVenture Airshow -- not by a bunch of 'good old boys' ... but by a mix of highly experienced airshow pilots and airshow professionals... of both genders.
To be continued...
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