Wednesday, May 19, 1999
Fired worker criticizes DHL in suit
He blames dismissal on radio safety dispute
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — A fired dispatcher for DHL Airways Inc. said he learned of the company's federal aviation violations after he dispatched a DHL flight from Mexico City to Houston and could not reach the flight crew.
It was in September 1996, and Charles “Larry” McGill wanted to warn the pilot of a severe thunderstorm that he would have to bypass. But without high-frequency radios, which allow direct dispatcher-pilot contact, all he could do was hope for the best.
The plane reached safe ground, but only after flying off course by about 200 miles and dipping into its reserve fuels.
“It was pretty much a shock,” said Mr. McGill, testifying Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
He is demanding an unspecified, “substantial” amount in damages from his former employer, which is located at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
DHL's attorney Linda Woeber of Cincinnati said in opening statments Tuesday that Mr. McGill was fired because he had taped a conversation with a DHL manager, committing a major breach in company policy.
The conversation delved into Mr. McGill's refusal to car ry out orders and, Ms. Woeber said, the firing culminated months of Mr. McGill's unprofessional behavior.
At Tuesday's court proceedings, she said that Mr. McGill had many good qualities when he joined DHL in 1994 and that he was known to be very serious, hard-working and knowledgeable.
It's just that his bad qualities, such as being very emotional and insistent on being right, eventually took over,” she said.
Mr. McGill, 53, of Cincinnati, took the witness stand after her opening statements.
He testified that he was working for a regional airline company in St. Louis when he met a woman who was em ployed by DHL in Cincinnati.
He attended one of the company's Christmas parties and was impressed by the fact that the company was growing.
He testified that he was hired in the summer of 1994 and eventually wrote a dispatcher training manual for the company and often offered other suggestions.
His testimony is expected to continue today.
Meanwhile, Ms. Woeber insisted Tuesday that many airlines have found alternatives to high-frequency radios to establish dispatcher-pilot contact.
DHL planes were equipped with VHF — very high frequency — radios during the Mexico City-Houston flight.
The equipment allows DHL dispatchers to have direct communication with flight crews as long as its planes are within about 160 miles of special antennae that are stationed throughout the nation.
But Mexico does not have such antennae, leaving Mr. McGill unable to contact a pilot in September 1996.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in an April 5 letter that DHL is not in compliance with federal regulations and must install $200,000 worth of radio equipment to improve communications for its flights to Mexico.
Basis of lawsuit
DHL fired Charles “Larry” McGill, a retired Navy aviator and federally licensed aviation dispatcher, in January 1997, after he kept insisting that DHL was violating federal aviation regulations by not equipping its planes with high-frequency radio equipment.
In his wrongful discharge lawsuit, Mr. McGill alleges that his whistle-blowing and attempts to unionize DHL dispatchers were the root cause of his termination.
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