This isn't a warning that I would have ever anticipated needing to issue, but recent events have forced my hand: Do not, under any circumstances, let anyone even vaguely associated with the Colorado Rockies interfere with your professional duties.
For example, if you are an airline pilot responsible for flying the Colorado Rockies from Denver to Toronto on a charter flight, you should not let any of those bozos into the cockpit so he can perform some jokes and riffs. On April 10, this is exactly what a United Airlines pilot did, and now the FAA has opened an investigation into the incident. That investigation will be made easier by the fact that someone posted and then later deleted video of Rockies hitting coach Hensley Meulens chopping it it up in the cockpit.
United Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating how a passenger gained access to the cockpit of a 757 at cruise altitude in violation of the company’s policy and FAA regulations. pic.twitter.com/E2yQwSbEy8
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) April 19, 2024
I get that a charter is not the same as a commercial flight, and that the former likely provides more opportunities to interact with and get to know the passengers. I'm sure this is not the first time that a member of a sports team's traveling squad has tried the "Hey boss, could I get a look at that cockpit?" routine, and had their wish granted. And why not? What's the worst that could happen?
But this is different. Hensley Meulens is not just some hitting coach, he's the hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies. This makes him, by simple association, incompetent and therefore much more likely than your average person to accidentally crash a plane. To be honest I don't know much about Meulens, but I do know some things about the Colorado Rockies, and one of those things is that they only make bad, self-defeating decisions. If the people in charge of that team decided that Meulens should be the hitting coach, it means that Meulens is bad at his job and likely several others.
Pilots need to be more aware of these things. To anyone else who will be transporting the Colorado Rockies across the country at any point this summer, I offer this advice: Watch a Rockies game before the flight, and ask yourself if you want anyone involved with the creation of that mess anywhere near a set of levers and buttons that could potentially bring about a disaster.
