Fired Pilot Loses Suit against Travel Air

A Kansas District Court judge has dismissed a complaint by a pilot against fractional ownership operator Raytheon Travel Air. David McCauley alleged he was unjustly fired by Travel Air in 1999 after he failed to pass a random blood alcohol test. After being discharged, McCauley couldn’t get work and his airman certificate was later revoked because he was diagnosed as an alcoholic, according to court papers. Judge John Lungstrom rejected McCauley’s arguments that he was fired specifically in retaliation for refusing to fly a mission because he was ill, that Raytheon “communicated false information” about him within and outside of the company and that he suffered “damages” as the result of these actions by Travel Air.