The problem right now is that when I resigned to use $15,000 of my retirement money to pay for the lawsuit, since we have proof in court and will win, that I anticipated getting my job back within 6 or 7 months according to the normal time it takes a controller to get back in. However, as my bad luck would have it, when Marion Blakey became FAA administrator she put on a hiring freeze that, as far as re-instatement eligibles go, is the longest FAA hiring freeze in history, at two years now. Our case was finally filed in the right court about 4 months ago, and we anticipate resolution within a couple of months. As a matter of fact the DOJ attorney plans on submitting a motion to dismiss by Feb. 17th, and has stated that if the court won't dismiss it that they will enter settlement negotiations. This same DOJ attorney tried to have an almost identical case dismissed in the same court about a year ago, but the court denied his request. So it looks good, one way or another.
But in the mean time, since I wasn't able to get my job back, and other employers hesitate to hire me because they think I will return to ATC soon, I had to file Chapter 7 about a year ago. Therefore I am not able to get a business loan, nor an education loan to bridge the gap on my pilot time and get on with a regional airline. My job is gone, my retirement is gone, my boat I had is gone (because of the Chapter 7), and all I have is alot of possessions from my past years of employment, and sadly I have $2,000 worth of prepreg in the freezer, all the core material for about 50 kits, and the oven and vacuum pump and everything else I need for production, just need a spare $1,000 to get into a 24X48 brand new heated garage where the rent is $495 per month. It is sad that here I am in this predicament, when the government owes me $135,000. I have the possibility of working as a car salesman nearby if I want to start in the next couple of days. Never done it before, but I guess you can make a living. When I resigned I new that the Cleveland Judge who delayed us in moving to our new towers because of an FAA screwup had found out about the resulting pay fiasco and was upset about it, so it would have been an easy win taking it back into her court, but it was diverted into MSPB, and then FINALLY filed in the right court four months ago. The sad part is that if I would have had any idea that it would take that long just to get it in the right court I could have stayed on the job and saved up money over two years.
It is sad that I have 960 hours of flight time, with all ratings except ATP, and an EXTENSIVE background in ATC and Aviation in general, and might even have a hard time getting on with a regional at $22,000 per year to start. To fly cargo requires 1200 hours. I contacted Ameriflight yesterday to see if they could have me ride in the right seat of the Chieftain (Navajo) or Metroliner as an unpaid pilot to do the flying and become familiar with their operation and policies, and then have a commitment to hire as soon as I have the 1200, but there is a problem with their insurance coverage doing that. I guess everything has gotten more difficult because of 9/11. I will try to find a Cessna Citation operator that will put me in the right seat, or a regional, and make the agreement that when we win our lawsuit I will pay my first years wages back to them, but my brother says he thinks that is illegal.
If Todd wants to enlist my help on the DARPA project AND use the StarJet design for the contract AND help on the StarCat model development I could possibly come to Florida and agree to pay him a part of my lawsuit settlement. What do you think, Todd. Do you already have some of the DARPA money to hire employees? Anyone with suggestions? Hope I don't have to end up working at McDonalds.