A Southwest Airlines captain has filed a complaint against the airline after he was sacked for speaking to passengers rather than flying the B737 aircraft during an engine fire emergency in 2023.
David Legeros was in command of the B737-700 aircraft that took off from William P. Hobby International Airport (HOU) in Houston, Texas on August 15, 2023. The flight was headed for Cancun International Airport (CUN) in Mexico.
Less than 20 minutes later, the aircraft returned to Houston after flames spewed from the aircraft’s right-hand engine.
Although the plane was able to land safely and no injuries were reported, court documents showed that instead of taking control of the flight, Legeros chose to let the First Officer fly while he communicated with Houston air traffic control for a return emergency landing.
Moreover, the court papers state that Legeros then addressed passengers in Spanish and English to try and reassure them that the situation was under control.
According to a report by Paddle Your Own Kanoo, Legeros stated that it was the decision to let the first officer fly during the diversion that “landed him in hot water” with Southwest management because the airline’s standard operating procedures mandate that the captain should take control of the aircraft during an emergency situation.
Legeros reasoned that if he had taken control of the plane, the aircraft could have suddenly jolted and detached the burning engine, leaving the risk of it falling to the ground.
“Had SWA (Southwest Airlines) decided to reward Mr Legeros, or even ignore him, following his heroics, this story would be over, but SWA decided to punish him,” the petition states.
The court documents also allege that Southwest management had criticized Legeros for speaking Spanish to the passengers, despite claims that the majority of the flight passengers were Hispanic.
When investigations concluded on Flight WN307, the airline found that Legeros was engaged in serious misconduct, and, according to documents, was “forced” to sign a ‘Last Chance Agreement’.
“Based on the pretense of some ‘serious misconduct,’ but in reality due to his status as a person of color, SWA [ Southwest Airlines] has been looking to push Mr. Legeros out,” the complaint alleges.
While Legeros was still grounded from duty, he was advised that the airline needed to conduct a ‘Fitness for Duty’ psychological evaluation in January 2024.
Legeros claimed he could not attend the initial evaluation due to his father being in hospital.
The lawsuit claims that Southwest now wants him to attend a meeting with its Chief Pilot where he would be allowed to resign or be terminated.
Legeros is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Southwest from compelling a psychological exam or the Fitness for Duty evaluation.
10 comments
Capt Legeros DID take control of the aircraft. He assigned the First Officer to fly the plane while he monitored the situation and communicated with ATC for the successful completion of the flight. He did not ever relinquish control of the aircraft as he is the captain and is ultimately responsible for the flight. He handled the emergency brilliantly. SWA is at fault for making a blanket edict that in ALL emergency cases the captain will take control of the aircraft. It essentially removes the captains judgement and experience in handling that particular emergency. I would fly with Capt Legeros anytime.
I had to shut down an engine flying 747 Hong Kong to Dubai but I let the FO land the plane, it was his leg and in a 4 engine aircraft this wasn’t an emergency. No DEI at that level and he was a competent and experienced pilot operating under my supervision.
Delta mandates the first officer fly, not the captain.
No it doesn’t! It’s the Captain’s option.
Uhmm….you might want to read your manuals before making a statement so blatantly false.
There has to be more to this than is portrayed in this story. Captain Legeros seems to have demonstrated excellent decision making as described in this article. He appears to have followed the “big” three; Aviate, Navigate and then Communicate. Handing off or allowing a fully trained and qualified First Officer to fly (Aviate and Navigate) the aircraft allowing him to assess the emergency, complete necessary procedures and checklists and then talk with ATC (communicate) eliminating the middleman (First Officer having to relay information from ATC to the Captain). then formulate a plan, sharing it with the First Officer and receiving feedback. Then implementing the plan . Followed by sharing the plan with his cabin crew and passengers (Communicate) in English and Spanish on a flight originating in southeast Texas going to Cancun, Mexico. I don’t see an issue.
The captain was in charge of the airplane who is at the controls is a mute point. SOP’s that dictate and not let a crew be a crew is dangerous to all passengers on that airline. FLY JETBLUE
There has to be more to this story. It’s very common to hand control of the aircraft to the FO while managing an in flight emergency. And for the Captain to make the announcement. In fact most airlines encourage it.
Al Haynes (United232) famously commented that one best decision he made was to hand control to his FO, once he did that he could see the big picture and prioritize necessary actions.
I’m willing to bet Southwest cannot comment on the real reasons this pilot is under investigation, but there has to be more to the story.
Seems to me that Southwest have taken a high handed and needless approach here. He speaks in Spanish and English to mostly Hispanic passengers? Psychological evaluation? For what? The plane was completely flyable with no control issues. Wtf? Hope he wins.
Depending on the experience level of the 1st officer, and the fire itself, the junior officer has to learn sometime, better under close supervision, to manage an emergency. Waiting ’til lives depend entirely on him is not a sound plan. Not a “green” kid right out of school of course,but 1 who is familiar with the plane and has a bit of experience flying, so long as the captain is ready to take control if needed, allowing the 1st officer to learn to manage the situation is a good thing. Simulators are good, but don’t rouse the level of emotion a real deal does. An engine fire is not necessarily “life or death”, so a good opportunity for a teaching moment, unless other issues are occurring.