Captain Jason Kinzer was terminated a month after after calling an evacuation on his aircraft following an Emergency Landing after a Fume Event for “failing to preserve the company’s assets, aircraft, ground equipment, fuel and the personal time of our employees and customers”.

He was acting with integrity by placing crew and passenger safety over profits.

The airline settled out of court with the pilot on the evening of 16th October 2018. The case for his wrongful termination was due to start the following day. 

The aircraft had just taken off from St. Petersburg (Florida) when Flight Attendants Reported “that acrid smoke or chemical fumes from an undetectable source was emanating from the rear of the passenger cabin and that it was being detected and inhaled by the passengers as well” - according to Kinzer’s complaint.

Kinzer declared an emergency and returned to St. Petersburg where a Fire & Rescue worker reported “I’m showing some smoke on your No. 1 engine”.