CNN's Simulator Pilot Fired From Day Job for "Shaming Canadians"
The flight instructor and simulator pilot featured in CNN's somehow-still-ongoing coverage of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has been fired from his day job for dressing like a teenager and "shaming Canadians."
Mitchell Casado's fashion sense had become a talking point for watchers of CNN's absurdly extensive missing plane reporting, to the point where the network openly bragged that Casado's plaid shirt had its own Twitter account.
But Casado's boss at flight instruction company uFly was not as easily impressed.
Claudio Teixeira said Casado didn't show up Tuesday when customers had scheduled time on the simulator. "This is not the first time. He's been warned before," he told The Associated Press.
"Even though I let him be on TV he shamed us Canadians and shamed my company with the way he was dressing like he was 15 years old," he said. "People were complaining that it wasn't professional at all ... If you go to any plane you don't see them in shorts and sandals."
Casado isn't surprised. He said his boss had been training a new guy, making him essentially disposable.
"That's uFly," he said.
CNN says it won't be broadcasting from the simulator today, but may do so in the future.
As for Casado, he's been given two weeks pay and has an obnoxious talking shirt trying to cheer him up on Twitter.
@Whatdocowsdrink @MitchellCasado Mitchell will be fine, just fine. I'm sure of it.
— Mitch's Plaid Shirt (@MitchPlaidShirt) April 17, 2014
