Delta Threatens to Sue Ex-Pilot

An lawyer for Delta has served one of many provider’s former pilots with a stop and desist letter over “false and defamatory” statements posted on social media about last month’s Endeavor Air crash.

In keeping with a March 7 blog post by the retired Delta pilot, Karlene Petitt alleged that the airline was attempting to “silence” her and published the letter from Delta lawyer David Balser.

Balser’s letter, despatched to Petitt on Feb. 27, demanded she cease making false statements concerning the expertise of the captain on Delta Connection flight 4819, operated by Endeavor Air.

Following the crash in Toronto, Petitt posted a number of instances on X questioning Delta’s coaching. In a single submit, she mentioned the airline CEOs “must be fired.”

Endeavor Air CRJ-900 wreckage (Photograph: TSB of Canada)

“Flight 4819 was concerned in a single-aircraft accident at Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport (YYZ) round 2:15 PM ET on Monday, February 17, 2025,” the stop and desist letter acknowledged. “Since that date, you will have revealed false and defamatory info associated to Flight 4819’s Captain.”

The letter then lists a number of particular posts made by Petitt.

“These statements concerning the Flight 4819 Captain are false,” the letter acknowledged. “As Delta acknowledged on its web site on February 20, 2025, ‘[a]ssertions that he failed coaching occasions are false’ and ‘[a]ssertions that he did not circulate right into a pilot place at Delta Air Strains as a result of coaching failures are additionally false.’”

“These statements are defamatory and dangerous to Delta’s fame as a result of they falsely allege that Delta knowingly allowed a captain with insufficient talent, poor credentials, or inadequate coaching to pilot plane for Endeavor Air,” it continued. “Delta calls for that you simply appropriate or make clear the false statements recognized above … . To the extent you will have made different related false statements elsewhere of publication not recognized herein, Delta additional calls for that you simply appropriate or make clear these statements as properly.”

I problem delta to provide his coaching information and inform us what number of different have failed Deltas coaching and despatched again. I’ve proof @delta executives lie …even in court docket!. Each ceos must be fired. #Accidentwaitingtohappen #safetyfirst https://t.co/GSn0zzmJbr

— Karlene Petitt (@KarlenePetitt) February 21, 2025

Moreover, the stop and desist demanded that Petitt retain all paperwork and different supplies associated to her dialogue of Flight 4819 “in anticipation of potential litigation.”

Delta has disputed disinformation regarding the {qualifications} of each pilots concerned within the Endeavor Air crash.

“Assertions that [the pilot] failed coaching occasions are false. Assertions that he did not circulate right into a pilot place at Delta Air Strains as a result of coaching failures are additionally false,” the provider mentioned in a information launch.

AirlineGeeks reached out to Delta’s lawyer for remark.

This isn’t Petitt’s first time tangling with Delta’s authorized division.

Whereas nonetheless a pilot at Delta, Petitt sued the airline for retaliation in 2016 after she raised issues of safety about its flight operations. In 2022, a Division of Labor administrative legislation choose approved a settlement between the 2 events.

In keeping with her LinkedIn profile, she later retired from the airline in January 2023.

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