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Chris Radburn/PA Wire
# grounded
Ryanair documentary pilot sacked for "gross misconduct"
John Goss had previously spoken to a newspaper over concerns he had related to the airline’s safety and fuel policies.
A RYANAIR PILOT who spoke to a Channel 4 documentary about the safety of the airline has been dismissed with immediate effect.
Captain John Goss was interviewed by the Dispatches programme on the station which raised concerns over the company’s safety and fuel policy.
He was one of four pilots interviewed for the show, but was the only one willing to be identified. He had previously given a newspaper interview on the same subject, for which he was disciplined by Ryanair.
Goss was informed of his dismissal yesterday, with colleagues told the news in a memo from David O’Brien, the company’s director of flight and ground operations.
The memo said that safety is the company’s “Number 1 priority” and said that it was “shocked and astonished” that Goss had taken part in the documentary.
A spokesperson for the company told TheJournal.ie that it will defend its name.
“We will not allow a Ryanair employee to defame our safety on national television just 3 weeks after he confirmed in writing to Ryanair that he had no concerns with safety and no reason to make any confidential safety report to either the IAA or Ryanair.
“We look forward to correcting Mr Goss’s defamatory claims in Court in due course, but will not be commenting further on this issue which is now the subject of legal proceedings.”
The Irish Aviation Authority has supported the airline, calling the documentary a “misguided attack”, adding that the airline’s safety record is “on a par with the safest in Europe.”
Read: Check out Ryanair’s heated exchange of letters with ‘Dispatches’…
Read: French Government seeks clarification from Ryanair following documentary
