The hero pilot whose quick thinking saved an airliner from crashing has signed on the dole.
Peter Burkill left British Airways this month, where he was a pilot for 20 years, after taking voluntary redundancy.
Mr Burkill, of St Stephen’s Mount, St John’s, Worcester, is applying for jobs with airlines outside Europe. However, he says that his experience safely bringing down the stricken Boeing 777 airliner has counted against him in the hunt for jobs.
Now collecting £64 per week Jobseeker’s Allowance, he was ruled out of a pilot’s job at Korean Air because he had been in a crash.
“They said they wanted somebody who didn’t have a crash on their record,” his wife Maria said.
The airline industry is suffering badly in the global recession, with Mrs Burkill estimating up to 1,000 people are applying for some pilot and first officer vacancies.
The father-of-three was highly praised after the airliner he was piloting, with 151 people on board, was brought down safely after it lost power two miles from the runway in January last year.
Trusting his co-pilot John Coward at the controls, Mr Burkill made the crucial decision to alter the angle of the plane’s wing flaps as it approached the landing strip.
Source: Berrow’s Worcester Journal
By: Flygirl - 4th October 2010 at 17:46
Great news.
By: Arabella-Cox - 4th October 2010 at 06:58
This is a very good outcome. I agree that he isn’t a hero in the sense that he was just doing what he was trained to do, but that doesn’t change the fact that an awful lot of people are still around who might not otherwise have been, due to Burkill and his crew’s actions.
By: PMN - 1st October 2010 at 01:08
Good on him! I can’t say I go along with thinking he’s a hero but he certainly deserves to be earning a living flying such a beautiful machine. 🙂
By: Newforest - 30th September 2010 at 08:35
Capt. Burkill rejoins BA.
Good reason to add to this thread, surprised it hasn’t been reported earlier!:)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hero-pilot-to-rejoin-british-airways-2092808.html
By: Riding Air - 29th September 2009 at 19:23
[QUOTE=marktheevildude;1463767]
Redundancy is still redundancy regardless of whether the employee volunteers for it or is made compulsorily redundant. In both instances he is entitled to claim JSA.
Just read the original daily mail article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215303/Hero-BA-crash-pilot-new-job–crash-CV.html
He’s not claiming job seekers allowance atm, he got a years salary of £100,000 when he took redundancy, and is earning money from after dinner speaking, Jobseekers is unavailable if you have over £16,000 in savings, and for every £250 over £6000 you have a pound is taken off your weekly total benefit. This is a awful case of sensationalist journalism and i’m afraid it seems in my personal opinion like a way for the wife to earn a little extra money for the family, As an experianced pilot he should have known that there are few jobs in aviation avaiable atm and many experianced pilots will be applying for them and surely he would have known a crash, whether his fault or not onhis record would affect his chances. He made a bad choice to leave his job when he did if providing for his family and paying his £500,000 mortgage is an issue. He better hurry up with the TV and book deals of the incident, i will support him by buying them, but having read all the facts i can’t have sympathy for him now.
By: plough - 24th September 2009 at 22:46
Jobseekers is unavailable if you have over £16,000 in savings, and for every £250 over £6000 you have a pound is taken off your weekly total benefit. .
Whilst that is true for Income-based JSA, basic Contributions-based JSA of £64 a week is available to any unemployed person who has made above a minimum level of National Insurance contributions, regardless of any savings they have, but is only available for a maximum of 6 months, after which you go onto Income based JSA which is means tested as you have described. (I have first hand experience of this).
I agree, sensationalist journalism has built this story into something rather more than it is.
It still seems strange to me that a first class pilot who has proved his ability to deal react and deal successfully with such an emergency, is thought less of than others who are an unknown quantity should an emergency arise :confused:
By: Ren Frew - 24th September 2009 at 21:12
Couldn’t he go back now under BA’s ‘work for free’ scheme ? 😉 And as an aside, assuming he were A340 or 747 rated, wouldn’t Mr Branson be all over him by now with a tasty contract and photo opportunity… ? :diablo:
By: Ship 741 - 24th September 2009 at 20:57
No one has mentioned that the reason he can’t get a job is that almost all major world airline pilots are in very strong unions, and their employment is governed by seniority, not ability.
The pilots at large airlines have effectively created a cartel for pilot labor. “Heroes” like the one described in this thread and the oft mentioned Sully chose to participate in the cartel, and it might be argued, for many years benefitted from it. When a pilot becomes a high profile individual post incident, the public becomes aware of some of the negatives of hyper-involvment by the union, but the positives aren’t mentioned in the same articles.
BTW, I’m always very cautious about using the “hero” title with regard to a pilot. To me, the BA pilot was simply another case of a professional doing what he was trained to do….admittedly in this case with very few options. In my experience, the real “heroes” are the ones you never hear about.
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th September 2009 at 20:26
[QUOTE=plough;1463670]Redundancy is still redundancy regardless of whether the employee volunteers for it or is made compulsorily redundant. In both instances he is entitled to claim JSA.
Just read the original daily mail article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215303/Hero-BA-crash-pilot-new-job–crash-CV.html
He’s not claiming job seekers allowance atm, he got a years salary of £100,000 when he took redundancy, and is earning money from after dinner speaking, Jobseekers is unavailable if you have over £16,000 in savings, and for every £250 over £6000 you have a pound is taken off your weekly total benefit. This is a awful case of sensationalist journalism and i’m afraid it seems in my personal opinion like a way for the wife to earn a little extra money for the family, As an experianced pilot he should have known that there are few jobs in aviation avaiable atm and many experianced pilots will be applying for them and surely he would have known a crash, whether his fault or not onhis record would affect his chances. He made a bad choice to leave his job when he did if providing for his family and paying his £500,000 mortgage is an issue. He better hurry up with the TV and book deals of the incident, i will support him by buying them, but having read all the facts i can’t have sympathy for him now.
By: Deano - 24th September 2009 at 18:09
I thought the law was you can’t replace them for 6 months too, not 12.
By: plough - 24th September 2009 at 17:36
How is he receiving jobseekers after volunteering to be made redundant and with the sizable payment he would have received? to many holes in this story i’m afraid….
Knowing plenty of people out of work myself, i can’t feel sorry for anyone that jumped before being pushed…. Hero status or not
Redundancy is still redundancy regardless of whether the employee volunteers for it or is made compulsorily redundant. In both instances he is entitled to claim JSA.
Don’t the circumstances of voluntary redundancy preclude the UK job seeker from working within the same type of work for 12 months anyway ? I know it applies in my field for sure…
Not as far as I know. In fact, if an employer wishes to re-employ someone they have previously made redundant, they are free to do so. If they wish to employ someone to do the same job within 6 months ( I am fairly sure it is 6, not 12), they are legally bound to offer it to the redundant person in the first instance.
What an employer is not permitted to do is make someone redundant, and then re-employ them, either directly or as a freelance at a lower rate of pay.
You’d think Airlines would make more informed decisions and look at the circumstances of a crash before making a sweeping judgement like that.
I agree entirely – another example of all pervading modern day short-sighted management.
By: rdc1000 - 24th September 2009 at 16:59
Actually, I think what I meant was they weren’t allowed to come back in and do the same job within the corporation as freelance staff for 12 months…
That I’m not sure about, although I think someone I know got some temporary consulting work from the company he’d worked from (architecture) after they’d laid him off, but not fully sure of the circumstances.
By: Ren Frew - 24th September 2009 at 15:44
No definately not. I’m not sure I’ve ever come across any profession which would have such a rule….you must just have picked badly.
Employers, if they make someone redudant cannot directly replace that person for 12 months unless they first offer the post back to the same person.
Actually, I think what I meant was they weren’t allowed to come back in and do the same job within the corporation as freelance staff for 12 months…
By: rdc1000 - 24th September 2009 at 15:40
Don’t the circumstances of voluntary redundancy preclude the UK job seeker from working within the same type of work for 12 months anyway ? I know it applies in my field for sure…
No definately not. I’m not sure I’ve ever come across any profession which would have such a rule….you must just have picked badly.
Employers, if they make someone redudant cannot directly replace that person for 12 months unless they first offer the post back to the same person.
By: Ren Frew - 24th September 2009 at 15:26
Don’t the circumstances of voluntary redundancy preclude the UK job seeker from working within the same type of work for 12 months anyway ? I know it applies in my field for sure…
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th September 2009 at 15:12
“They said they wanted somebody who didn’t have a crash on their record,” his wife Maria said.
This seems a rather short-sighted attitude.
Does it also mean that Captain Sullenberger (sp?) of Hudson River fame would struggle to get a job with another airline should he want one?
I’d be very happy to have either of these pilots flying me.
By: Papa Lima - 23rd September 2009 at 16:32
Likewise, I admire him and only wish such an apparently generous system applied to me!
By: Arabella-Cox - 23rd September 2009 at 15:55
I apologise, i wasn’t having a go at the pilot, although it would appear so, i was complaining at the reporting, i am sure the guy isn’t on the £64 a week JSA, esp if like you mentioned he wanted a year off, the report is trying to drum up sympathy, when i am sure its not required. He’s a professional and i am sure all his plans have been well thought through. From previous interviews where he has tried to play down the media tagged hero image he sounds of very good character.
By: Deano - 23rd September 2009 at 14:16
marktheevildude
I don’t think for one minute he wants sympathy, I think your comment is rather callous when you don’t know the facts. The facts are his wife gave an interview to a news reporter and they have taken alot of what she said out of context and portrayed him as being a moaner because he couldn’t find work. You know, quintessential media and all that.
He took voluntary redundancy to have a year off work, he would then look for another position when he felt the time was right for him.
By: Arabella-Cox - 23rd September 2009 at 14:08
How is he receiving jobseekers after volunteering to be made redundant and with the sizable payment he would have received? to many holes in this story i’m afraid….
Knowing plenty of people out of work myself, i can’t feel sorry for anyone that jumped before being pushed…. Hero status or not
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September 23, 2009 at 6:07 am