Pilot Disagreement

Pilot Disagreement – A weekend flight on United Express was delayed for five hours in Lubbock, Texas, after the pilots got into a “disagreement” and were unavailable to fly the plane, according to the airline.

A spokesman for ExpressJet, the regional carrier that operated the plane, said Monday reports indicated that police were called. Airport police did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Flight 4453 to Houston was “delayed due to crew availability,” said the ExpressJet spokesman, Jarek Beem. “There was a disagreement among crew members. There was no fight … there was no physical altercation thankfully.”

Beem said he didn’t have more details about the nature of the dispute, and he declined to identify the pilots. The one-hour flight departed Saturday evening after a new crew was flown in from Houston, he said.

The ExpressJet spokesman said he was not sure whether the first crew faced disciplinary action, adding that the airline was still investigating the incident, which was first reported by travel blogger Gary Leff.

A United Airlines spokeswoman said the carrier joined ExpressJet in apologizing to inconvenienced passengers but referred all questions to ExpressJet.

September 20, 2015

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/business/

 

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