“The Pilots: Australia”
Air Travel As We Know It
Airlines and airports are getting a bad rap at the moment. Social media is flooded with upset passengers, and travelers warning others to show up at the airport hours earlier than they normally would. There is a multitude of factors behind the chaos and the shortage of employees, but like so many other parts of this years-long global disaster, the root of it is man-made. It’s important to note that airlines around the globe are still mandating that their pilots and staff be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. There are currently healthy, experienced pilots who have cumulative hundreds of thousands of flight hours under their collective belt, who are sitting at home, barred from the skies. Meanwhile, passengers around the world are stuck in airport terminals crying as they miss weddings and graduations while flight after flight gets canceled.
To dismiss the vaccines as one of the main driving factors behind this shortage would be short-sighted. The mandates had a profound impact on the industry, resulting in a slow-moving disaster. Those who didn’t comply got grounded, while many of those who did comply feel betrayed and coerced into a medical decision.
Speaking Out – The GAAC
Pilots and aviation specialists in 10 major countries across the world are speaking out and warning the public, aviation authorities, and airlines about the disastrous fallout from the Covid-19 vaccines and mandates.
The Global Aviation Advocacy Coalition (GAAC) was founded to unify a growing number of “Freedom Flyer” organizations that have been created in response to the effect overbearing medical authorities’ unreasonable demands have had on aviation and flight safety. Indeed, aviation medical systems have been effectively bypassed by simply by classifying Covid shots as vaccines.
Under GAAC aviation groups have joined forces with more than 20,000 medical and scientific experts across the globe, including:
- The Global Covid Summit
- Canadian Covid Care Alliance
- American Association of Physicians and Surgeons
- HART Group UK
- UK Medical Freedom Alliance
- World Council for Health
- CAIM Haven
On May 17, 2022 the GAAC released a public Global Statement to the world.
Their message is extremely clear. Use of the Covid-19 “vaccines” violated the airline industry’s own golden rule of Safety First. The shots were not adequately tested, and subsequent injuries from their rollout have been substantial. The injuries, both known and still unknown, pose a grave risk to aviation safety. To then coerce or force aviators to take these products via mandate is an even bigger act of negligence when it comes to degrading flight safety.
The authors of the statement ended with a Call to Action for the airlines and aviation authorities that includes:
- An immediate end to all remaining Covid-19 mandates
- A “permissive environment” for those who need to report post-vaccine injuries
- Thorough screening of all pilots for “high prevalence harms” that are now showing up in pilots and in the general public
- All data held by the airlines that includes information regarding medical certificate suspensions among pilots, along with causes and symptoms must be released to a third-party investigator to establish or rule out Covid-19 vaccine injuries
The letter is signed by pilots and highly specialized medical professionals and can be read in full here:
The GAAC produced a 34-minute video that is an absolute must-see in order to get a full picture of the variety of deeply concerning issues currently occurring in aviation.
Aussie Freedom Flyers
Captain Glen Waters is a pilot by trade but grounded by mandate. Waters was terminated from one of the main Australian carriers, Virgin Airlines, for declining to take a Covid-19 vaccine. Captain Alan Dana flew for Jetstar, which is part of Qantas Airlines, another major airline. Along with 23 other airline staff members, he created a group called the Magnificent Qantas24, and together with Captain Water’s group from Virgin airlines, they joined forces to create the Aussie Freedom Flyers. They’re all fighting for the same cause of medical freedom and the removal of the vaccine mandates. Their lawyer has come up with a template to push back that can be used in the airline industry, as well as in other industries. Hundreds of people have been able to use the template he created to stand up for their rights.
Background
When the mandates began rolling out, individual pilots who were not interested in taking the vaccine hired lawyers. Many of these pilots ended up using the same lawyer, and they agreed to his suggestion of joining forces and taking group action at the tribunal level. They formed the Magnificent Qantas24, though they’re now down to 18 active participants, and their case has progressed from the tribunal into federal court, which has the potential to have an enormous impact that can begin a domino effect of legal action across the country.
Pilots at all of the major Australian airlines were required to comply with the Covid-19 vaccination mandate by Nov 15, 2021, or face termination. The airlines all used similar language in their official statements, and there was a consultation period of 2 weeks where pilots could make their concerns heard. Most pilots who initially resisted the vaccine ended up succumbing to the immense pressure that was put on them.
“Serious Misconduct”
According to the Australian aviation industry, if a pilot or member of the staff engages in theft, assault, sexual misconduct, or smuggling, then they get terminated under the category of “serious misconduct”. For some inexplicable reason, the staff members who declined to take the vaccine were fired under the same category of serious misconduct. Of course at this point, every single day there are new anecdotes, data, and information that heavily support their decision not to get vaccinated from a medical perspective. Meanwhile, the airlines are not asking questions and they are not looking to see how extensive this damage is. If a pilot has a medical issue and refrains from reporting it due to fear of retribution, he’s flying under less than ideal circumstances.
Risks
Lieutenant Colonel Theresa Long MD MPH, a medical aviation officer in the US Army, stated that in her opinion, there needs to be a widespread screening for heart issues, tracking blood markers for troponin and D-dimer levels. In addition, they need to be doing a cardiac MRI. Currently, regular medical screenings include only an EKG which wouldn’t pick up signals for some of the cardiac issues that are becoming prevalent.
Captain Waters shared examples of pilots or airline staff in Qantas that have been injured from the vaccine and were grounded from flying.
- A highly experienced training captain who trains pilots had a cardiac arrhythmia after the booster. He was grounded for 4 months, and he’s now back to flying while being monitored. He’s lucky, he almost lost his license altogether.
- A pilot got 2 Pfizer shots and then a Moderna, after which his leg swelled up to the point that he couldn’t walk for 5 days.
- A pilot who was also a triathlete was feeling fatigued for a few days but pushed through it. He had a cardiac arrest while swimming, and died. He had no prior heart complications.
Captain Alan Dana is one of the original Magnificent Qantas 24 pilots, and his position is that airlines and businesses that mandated vaccinations to remain employed abused their position, and in his opinion broke the law. Now with the mounting evidence of vaccine failure to do what was advertised and the adverse reactions coming to light globally, any business headed to court needs to think seriously about having a legal precedent set against them. Every day that goes by is another day that the pile of anecdotes and data grows larger, and the evidence starts to point toward the malfeasance of governments and pharmaceutical companies who pushed experimental vaccines and mandates onto the population.
What are the actual risks of vaccinated pilots having a medical issue in flight that would compromise their functionality to the point of danger? We don’t know, because the airlines aren’t interested in finding out. What IS clear is that based on incidents that have already occurred, the risk of such an event occurring is higher than it was before the vaccine roll-out. The story of Captain Robert Snow passing out due to vaccine-induced cardiac arrest 6 minutes after landing his American Airlines aircraft should have shaken the industry to its core.
Legal Argument
The legal argument of the Freedom Flyers is that no corporation was legally allowed to mandate an irreversible medical procedure. There are numerous aspects to their case:
- Discrimination – Corporations are now outright engaging in medical discrimination among their employees.
- Medical privacy – Corporations do not have the right to demand medical information from their employees.
- Work health safety regulations – Corporations are actively refusing to engage in a risk assessment procedure regarding mass inoculating their industry with Covid-19 vaccines. Per their own strict rules of aviation, ANY variation in protocol requires a proper risk assessment, whether it’s a new work procedure or a change in the cafeteria menu. Certainly, with a physical, internal medical procedure, a rigorous risk assessment should have been performed.
- Breach of contract – Nowhere in the contract signed between the pilots and the airlines does it say anything about their job security contingent on a future medical intervention. According to Australian law, if there’s a specific change in employment terms, the company must offer you a new contract, and if you decline, they have to compensate. To get around that pesky compensation, they simply discharged unvaccinated pilots under charges of “serious misconduct”.
There are currently 20 Australian pilots who are ahead in their court proceedings and a group of 50 who are further behind in the legal process but have already filed their lawsuits.
Any Response?
As expected, the response from the airlines and official government authorities has been weak or nonexistent. Dr. Kate Manderson, Principal Medical Officer, Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Australia held a zoom call with captains at one of the major airlines. In a video that was leaked from that call, Dr. Manderson can be seen responding to a captain who asked her if they should take boosters, stating that both his daughter and son-in-law suffered from vaccine-induced myocarditis and ended up in the hospital.
Her response was extremely vague and misleading. She claimed that since we already know that the vaccine can induce myocarditis, and we know the mechanism by which it happens (note- we have no definitive studies proving the mechanism), we know that most cases resolve, and therefore she recommends that everyone get a booster because it’s safe and effective.
In one case of note, Captain Shane Murdock and some of his colleagues submitted a request to the Fair Work Commission to acknowledge the facts on the ground regarding the realities of the vaccine mandate and to make a recommendation to the airlines to remove the mandate. In a response to the applicant’s request, Jetstar Airlines, an entity owned by Qantas, submitted a letter to the Commission. In that letter, they requested that the Commission NOT interfere with a recommendation, as to do so would open up the airline to future legal liabilities.
A select few politicians in Australia who understand the gravity of this situation are preparing to present a Writ of Mandamus to Dr. Manderson, which is a notice that demands that she do the job she’s meant to do and conduct an investigation into the concerns coming from the pilots. The letter has been drafted with the advice of medical personnel. At this point, day by day the pilots’ case is getting stronger, and they’re backing the airlines into a position where they’ll be forced to screen the pilots and find an answer to their questions.
Culture of Safety
The airline industry has been meticulous about safety for obvious reasons. The dichotomy of airlines all over the world mandating a brand new drug to all of their pilots while operating within an industry that has the strictest safety protocols in the world is a mind twist.
Captain Shane Murdock spent 20 years as a captain, and a total of 42 years as a commercial pilot for Virgin Airlines, one of the major Australian carriers. Captain Murdock recently ran in federal elections, and throughout the campaign, he highlighted the risk assessment skills that made him a great pilot for so many decades.
When he used those same skills to conclude that taking the vaccine does not pass his personal risk/benefit assessment, he got fired, but he didn’t go down easily. He backed the airline into a corner by showing up for his vaccine declaring that he was fully informed, and the only reason for his consent is due to financial coercion by his employer. That left the vaccinators in a sticky situation, since according to Australian law, coercion precludes informed consent, thereby making it illegal to vaccinate Capt. Murdock. They refused to vaccinate him, and ultimately he was terminated.
This strategy is playing out on a broader level, as the Aussie Freedom Flyers push hard to get formal acknowledgment of the following:
- Virgin Australia implemented a policy that carried with it a threat of termination.
- A medical practitioner cannot administer medicine without valid consent
- Valid consent must be given free of coercion, either implied, direct, or indirect.
They want a judge to acknowledge the above. In essence, if they get a precedent on that, it opens the door to tearing down the medical tyranny that has taken grip over Australia, and of course, will be of importance internationally as well. It will mean that the policy the company implemented was not legally compliable at the outset.
Captain Sam Tamer is another Freedom Flyer who resisted the coercion. He questioned the vaccine mandates from the beginning and ultimately wrote up an official notice to the safety department at his airline questioning the research and reasoning behind the vaccine mandate. The irony of their response is striking, as they punted ALL responsibility for vaccine mandates over to the HR department. According to the department tasked with ensuring the safety of the airline staff, who of course hold the safety of millions of passengers in their hands, the decision to inoculate the entire airline using coercive methods was entirely the responsibility of Human Resources. This was a huge eye-opener for Captain Sam, as clearly that’s a completely ridiculous and inadequate response.
Prove Them Wrong
The Freedom Flyers would love to be proven wrong when it comes to their concerns about the vaccine. Unfortunately, the airlines are completely disinterested in making any attempts to assuage their concerns, and continuously ignore all requests for an investigation.
The vast majority of pilots have taken the vaccine. Many of them aren’t in the same physical condition that they were in before. Pilots calling in sick is at a peak, contributing to the current air travel woes. Many of them resisted the vaccine up until a certain point until they could no longer continue living under the coercive conditions of the unvaccinated. There’s a lot of anger and feelings of betrayal beginning to stir among the airline crews, similar to what we’re seeing in the general public.
I don’t know what will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back when it comes to getting the airlines to acknowledge the new risks they introduced, but I do know that it’s coming. None of us can possibly know what kind of chaos waits for us on the other side of that acknowledgment, but it’s not going to be pretty.
Note: This is the first in a multi-part series. There is way too much information about each branch of the GAAC to fit into one post.
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One of our country’s most important freedoms is that of free speech.
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