I’d be impressed by this woman’s time management skills and hustle, if only her actions weren’t so reckless…
In this post:
Pilot reportedly worked at Virgin Atlantic & KM Malta Airlines
Airline pilots have a lot of responsibility, given the number of lives they have in their hands. This is why aviation is so heavily regulated, to ensure that pilots only fly so many hours, and have a minimum amount of rest between trips.
Well, The Shift reports on one “entrepreneurial” pilot who seemed to find a way to work for two airlines at once, without the other airline knowing about it. Specifically, the pilot reportedly worked for both KM Malta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic at the same time (with the former being Malta’s new state-owned airline, replacing Air Malta).
The woman had reportedly been flying as a first officer for both airlines since at least December 2023, until she was caught in May 2024. She was caught “by chance” flying for Virgin Atlantic, while also being a pilot for KM Malta Airlines. So rather than observing the minimum required rest periods, the Malta-based pilot would fly to London on her days off, and work trips for Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic reportedly dismissed the pilot on the spot, when the company found out what she was doing. Meanwhile KM Malta Airlines initially suspended her, only to reinstate her a short while later, so she’s still flying at the airline. Many pilots at KM Malta Airlines are reportedly furious what she hasn’t been terminated, given her clear violation of safety guidelines.
To state the obvious, pilots have a maximum number of hours that they can work for good reason, and pilots aren’t supposed to work for two airlines, since there’s no way to safely manage rest in a situation like that.
I wonder how the pilot managed her schedule
The part of this story that surprises me the most is how this pilot was able to manage her schedule with each airline, so that there were no conflicting flights on her rosters.
Presumably she wasn’t very senior with both airlines, since this can only go on for so long. Typically when you’re junior at an airline, you don’t have much control over your schedule, and can’t easily choose all your days off.
So it seems to me like a miracle that she could for several months schedule her flying so that there was no overlap. Did she just do a lot of trip trading with other pilots, or how exactly did that work?
I also can’t help but wonder if she was planning on sustaining this long term (which seems totally unrealistic), or if she was thinking of moving from one airline to the other, but was waiting on something before quitting at one of the airlines?
Keep in mind that there were some major changes at Malta’s national carrier recently, as Air Malta was replaced by KM Malta Airlines. Maybe she applied to work at Virgin Atlantic when she wasn’t sure about the future of Malta’s national airline? But then when the airline launched operations, maybe she had second thoughts?
Bottom line
Most pilots take their jobs very seriously. There will always be some bad apples, though in the case of one European pilot, she chose to violate rules in an unusual way. She held jobs at both KM Malta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic at the same time, in violation of rest rules.
She shouldn’t put the safety of passengers at risk in this way, given the dangers of fatigue. However, the way she managed her schedule is rather impressive, and I’m amazed this went on for months.
What do you make of this pilot working for two airlines?
Ooooo so many questions. Without a doubt, her actions are detrimental to safety. However, I would be interested to ask her "why" she did what she did. Was it for financial reasons, career progression reasons, or something else? Many lessons to be learnt here.
How did she get caught???
Evidently the person needs the money to survive. You assume a lot in your journalist perspective. There's a difference between having facts and spouting your disdain for someone's behavior. The person was not out robbing anyone. She was working two job's to make ends meet. The person who wrote this article needs grow up and mature. The attempt to shame the person is misdirected. Find out why they worked two jobs first. Then I think your perspective will change.
No… it won’t change. You have no idea what safety rules she circumvented to fly at each airline. Virgin Atlantic did the right thing and shitcanned her.
Air Malta's attitude speaks loudly about who runs its' country. Slime balls.
Surprised the EU/UK hasn't revoked her commercial pilot license for violating required rest periods. Then she wouldn't be able to fly at all.
How does the author know if she in fact violated any rest rules? It’s possible to fly two different schedules and still maintain regulated rest and flight time. I don’t see anything unsafe about this. Kudos to her for trying to pull it off!
Spot on! If she is flying with Virgin Atlantic she might only be doing 400-600 hours a year out of the allowable 1000, leaving her additional hours left over to fly.
Salaries in the UK compared to cost of living mean that some pilots need to take additional jobs to earn a decent salary. Is it acceptable for her to do something outside of aviation instead like drive an uber for $18 an hour...
Spot on! If she is flying with Virgin Atlantic she might only be doing 400-600 hours a year out of the allowable 1000, leaving her additional hours left over to fly.
Salaries in the UK compared to cost of living mean that some pilots need to take additional jobs to earn a decent salary. Is it acceptable for her to do something outside of aviation instead like drive an uber for $18 an hour or capitalize on her skill set and earn 3-4x times that?
If she isn't busting 1000 hours a year, I see no issue with it and good on her!
My ex-wife did the same, married to me but playing around with another man!
What were the minimum rest requirements?
I'm surprised that anyone reads all the posts from a single blog. I like OMAAT, I read it often, but not always. I could care less what's on an airline menu.
Wieners and beans for Stanley.
I do not believe she should have been a pilot for 2 airlines on the basis of unsustainable rest breaks and this could in some cases lead to problems.
I think she should have only stuck with 1 airline and waited it out to see what the pilot really wanted.
What about the significant risk related to mixed type flying. Based on the pictures in the article she was flying an Airbus A320 for Air Malta and a Boeing 787 for Virgin Atlantic. Flying two vastly different types has concurrently like she was presents a significant inherent risk due to the stark difference in procedures, memory item for the execution of critical emergency scenarios, not to mention the vastly different cockpit layout and primary system...
What about the significant risk related to mixed type flying. Based on the pictures in the article she was flying an Airbus A320 for Air Malta and a Boeing 787 for Virgin Atlantic. Flying two vastly different types has concurrently like she was presents a significant inherent risk due to the stark difference in procedures, memory item for the execution of critical emergency scenarios, not to mention the vastly different cockpit layout and primary system control mechanisms.
In my opinion, her conduct could never be considered as a mistake or lapse - it is clearly a willful and blatant decision to break the Civil Aviation Rules!
With the current economic climate, she may need the resources. Respect for her - Well done! With out looking the details of her rest and work schedule, hard to say that she risked safety by just working for two airlines.
Most Airlines strictly forbid flying commercially with any other airline or charter company. Military flying is generally permitted. While I was a line pilot for Delta, I was allowed to fly with a non-military unit teaching aerial combat maneuvering or ACM (dog fighting) but I could only collect points rather than get paid a monetary salary.
It’s a conflict of interest and breach of any contract let alone not complying with rest periods. Imagine working for BA marketing then United at the same time. There also a potential breach of gdpr if she has internal info on one company and can potentially share it with the other.
I would also consider that this lady, in her greediness, stole a job to some other pilot
I’m getting really tired of peoples negativity, if this isn’t of interest then just scroll on past, it gets very draining coming here to be interested or uplifted to see these type of comments, surely you need to do some washing or cooking perhaps … take a break
Not surprised. If the manufacturers don't have to follow rules, why do pilots?
A lot of junior line pilots don’t come near their max monthly flying time but do spend a lot of time “on reserve” hoping for a call since they are often paid by flight hour.
If this young pilot has been keeping her personal flight logbook up to date and has not exceeded any legal limitations, what’s the problem?
2 things.likely is insurance and liability. Insurance companies will find any excuse to jack up your rate and if she stayed on Virgin those rates could have gone up. The second things is pilots are hired not for skill but for judgement. That is simply poor judgement.
Something not stated, was she flying the same aircraft type?
Company standard procedures differ.
Both are clear reasons you don’t fly with two companies! Making excuses for her behaviour is “mod” nonsense - she doesn’t know right from wrong.
Outrage of the century! Lock her up!
I am hoping you will be writing an article on vaccinated pilots with the admission in court from Astra Zeneca that their vaccines can cause blood clotting.
Considering pilots can’t even take a paracetamol that hasn’t been on the market for at least a year, how were they all allowed to take an experimental gene therapy where the outcomes were not known?
Looking forward to reading an article on this
Why would a person running an aviation blog write an article about vaccinations that doesn't have anything specifically to do with aviation?
James, a quick search online revealed this:
The World Council for Health is a pseudo-medical organisation dedicated to spreading misinformation to discourage COVID-19 vaccination, and promoting fake COVID-19 treatments.[1]
From an online search: "The World Council for Health is a pseudo-medical organisation dedicated to spreading misinformation to discourage COVID-19 vaccination, and promoting fake COVID-19 treatments"
Ben, please remove the post
so this fairly junior pilot had rating on an A320 and A330s since Virgin doesnt fly and small planes ?
Yes. Potentially she had gotten rated on the 320 before and was currently enough.
The training to get an a330 rating form an a320 rating is a two week PowerPoint and a couple SIM session
So, a surgeon working illegally for two hospitals at the same time is reinstated by one of the hospitals, that knows the surgeon is a crook smart. Tell me the name of this "airline"
Except that surgeons don't have mandated rest time, are often required to cover multiple hospitals, and it's legal to moonlight to pay back our insane loans. US healthcare folks!
Sounds like Malta and Virgin don't pay their pilots enough
Interesting situation. I presume that she might be building her hours while getting just a little work from both airlines. Otherwise, how she fit two airlines into her pilot schedule seems almost impossible. Great article!
Unless she was taking sick leave from one or both airlines to enable her illegal activity??
A clear violation of (at least) Part 121 FARs. She should be terminated from both airlines. I'm sure she knew EXACTLY what she was doing.
Part 121 of the US FAR has nothing to do with Maltese and British regulations
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (UKCAA) and the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) have similar, if not essentially the same, flight and duty limitations as US FAR 121.
The UKCAA and EASA publish their flight and duty limitations in CAP367 and CAP1826 respectively.
These limitations set down maximum flight and duty times and minimum rest periods between flights.
Clearly the Maltese Authorities are not that worried about her breach, but I would...
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (UKCAA) and the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) have similar, if not essentially the same, flight and duty limitations as US FAR 121.
The UKCAA and EASA publish their flight and duty limitations in CAP367 and CAP1826 respectively.
These limitations set down maximum flight and duty times and minimum rest periods between flights.
Clearly the Maltese Authorities are not that worried about her breach, but I would imagine that the UKCAA would take a very dim view of her breaches which could result in her having her license suspended and ultimately revoked.
It’s a violation of 121 FARs and EASA CAR’s only if she did in fact violate flight and duty times. There’s a distinct difference between being employed at multiple carriers/operators consecutively and not violating any of the regulations at all. There is nothing legally that prohibits one from having multiple commercially compensated employers. This happens quite regularly in the USA and other parts of the world. It’s actually quite common. As an attorney who has...
It’s a violation of 121 FARs and EASA CAR’s only if she did in fact violate flight and duty times. There’s a distinct difference between being employed at multiple carriers/operators consecutively and not violating any of the regulations at all. There is nothing legally that prohibits one from having multiple commercially compensated employers. This happens quite regularly in the USA and other parts of the world. It’s actually quite common. As an attorney who has represented multiple Pilots in termination proceedings for this particular reason, the claim is usually a company policy violation and not a regulatory violation at all. As a matter of fact every single one of these pilots have won the cases and returned to work with the option of carrier or have settled out of court for wrongful termination based on the circumstances, and still have gainful employment at their original or other airlines. As far as mixed fleet flying, that is also completely legal and allowed by the regulators. The FAA CFR’s allow you to be current and qualified on multiple Types. However, airlines themselves restrict you to one fleet. There are many Pilots worldwide that fly commercially at multiple jobs and it does behoove them to make sure they are in regulatory compliance with duty, rest and flight times. If they are not, then yes it is a violation. There is currently multiple Pilots that work at multiple airlines, charter operators, and Major/Legacy carriers (DL AA UA specifically), and they fly mixed fleets just like the individual in this article. What they essentially are doing is somehow manage their schedules artfully to work a period of time for one carrier then at another carrier. Why they do this? Who cares. That’s their business and completely legal as long as they don’t violate their times and are able to pass their recurrent training.
My first thought : do women pilots get paid less? Was this pilot in debt due to this or just on shaky financial ground? How badly are these airlines treating their women pilots for this woman to end up in this situation?
There is also an unspoken assumption that of course a good person would follow the rules, always! Because the rules are made be greatest and most benevolent minds, and for the good...
My first thought : do women pilots get paid less? Was this pilot in debt due to this or just on shaky financial ground? How badly are these airlines treating their women pilots for this woman to end up in this situation?
There is also an unspoken assumption that of course a good person would follow the rules, always! Because the rules are made be greatest and most benevolent minds, and for the good of all! (The airlines cant possibly be so understaffed that they pay zero real attention to these schedules, and are just pushing paper to cover their butts)
Pilots are nearly always paid on a strict senority/seat based scale, regardless of any protected factor.
In America yes, not how it works elsewhere
Please don't speak about things of which you are extremely ignorant. Female pilots are not paid less in the U.S. U.S. airline pilots are paid by rank, type, and years of service.
I would image the give away was a pilot in the jump seat noticing the female pilot on a different airline.
KM fly to LHR, so it may have been another pilot seeing her in their uniform
Talk about a side hustle!!
Interesting read on a Friday morning!
Thanks Ben for the blog, this is where I get most of my aviation news!
So. Did she violate the hours of service rule at the JAA? It’s only a problem if she actually flew more hours. What’s all the fuss about otherwise?
Agreed. Clearly, Malta saw that she was not in fact violating anything, and so they reinstated her.
I know you're after clicks and page views for revenue, but how about focusing on 3-4 quality articles every day instead of flooding the zone with coverage that outside the miles, points, elite status and loyalty program zones? And while you're at it, how about listening to the readers and ending this horrible page design?
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- I'm curious, what do you consider to be "quality articles," specifically? Reviews? Updates on new lounge openings? Opportunities to earn points? Carriers' plans with their fleets?
For example, yesterday I published 12 stories. Were any of those quality articles, and if so, which ones?
I publish what interests me, and my hope is that it interests readers as well. I totally get that every post won't interest everyone, and that's...
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- I'm curious, what do you consider to be "quality articles," specifically? Reviews? Updates on new lounge openings? Opportunities to earn points? Carriers' plans with their fleets?
For example, yesterday I published 12 stories. Were any of those quality articles, and if so, which ones?
I publish what interests me, and my hope is that it interests readers as well. I totally get that every post won't interest everyone, and that's fine by me, as I can't please everyone. But I do my best.
I agree with what you’ve just said. You post what you want to, and it’s up to the readers to decide to/not to read what they do and don’t find interesting.
I’ve never commented before but the original comment was just so rude and entitled I had to. Cheers.
For the better part of a year you've been flooding the zone with stories that aren't related to miles, points, elite status, etc. This is a crew operations rumors blog. And all these guides or articles like this are not what most of your readers want. And again, the design needs to be fixed.
Easy FTN, start your own website and flood it with “What most readers (in your opinion) want”.
To Ben, please do not take any notice of such gross ignorance …. please continue to post what interests you.
Great job with the posts! I very much look forward to them. Thank You!
Yeah, you can't please everyone!
Personally I found this quite an interesting article. Given the screen name of the originator I cant help wander if this is everyones favorite Karen who likes to get Delta cabin crew in trouble in exchange for free miles?? Keep up the good work Ben your articles are great
Maybe you could start your own blog.
You don't speak for me or the readers of this blog when it comes to what Ben should or shouldn't write.
@FNT Delta Diamond - If you don't like it, don't read it. Doesn't cost you anything. I see the articles and when they don't interest me, I just don't click through. If you don't like Ben's content, maybe you can follow some other blog.
Just curious, which blog do you find matching fully your interests and expectations?
I guess most of OMAAT readers are grateful for having access to a lot of interesting and first of all FREE content.
FNT Delta Diamond, are you going to answer Ben’s question? Which of his posts yesterday did you think were “high quality”?
Ben, thanks for the great blog!
RT: I've shared this feedback frequently before, but it seems like it gets ignored.
There's quite a bit of low quality articles with factual misinformation and editorial mistakes. Reducing the quantity and spending a little bit of extra time on the remaining ones would go a really long way. If not, he surely makes enough to hire a proofreader.
Like others have said, you are free to read the articles that interest you and skip the ones you don't care for. I certainly don't read everything Ben puts out (don't have the time) but he nonetheless puts out lots of good articles on all the major airlines, hotel chains, and travel destinations across the world. I'm glad there are some articles like this, which are interesting and also relevant to passenger safety.
I enjoy reading Ben's articles. I know for sure I will never fly American Airlines ever again since the last flight with them in 2019.
@FNT Delta Diamond. You don't speak for me and I disagree with your comments. I'm sure Ben has metrics easily available I'm sure he knows which articles his readers are keen on, even if they don't marry completely with your interests. I really like the wide breadth of articles. And the beauty is, if you don't like an article you can just scroll on by.
I know that carriers in the U.S. restrict you from working for a competitor as a matter of company policy. It could be that VS had that rule while KM did not.
We all make a choice to read or not. No neidc to be rude. Why are you subscribed if you are this disappointed? Just click “unsubscribe” and you are done! Me, I enjoy Ben’s posts
I personally found this to be an interesting article.You could've just skipped it, as I do with other articles that I find of no interest.
I know of 2 cases where EasyJet Pilots were on long term sick leaves and were actually working in China. This happened back in 2019.