Lawsuit Filed Over "Volunteer" Program for Unpaid Sim Training Sessions
The Allied Pilots Association has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines over a program the company hoped would augment simulator staff with unpaid pilots using their time off. Their issue lies with a new company effort to forgo the need for a second check airman in the simulator for cases of absence or illness, through the use of unpaid volunteer "seat fillers". For simulator training, a missing student would, in regular times, be replaced by another paid check airman, where they could take the place of the missing student for the duration of the other pilot's evaluation.