Pilot Kicks Trustee Off Plane

A Hawaiian Airlines pilot declared his boss a safety hazard on Thursday and asked him to leave his airplane. Capt. Craig Kobayashi told Josh Gotbaum, the bankruptcy trustee now at the helm of the airline, that he was so angry with Gotbaum that he didn’t think he could safely fly the Boeing 767-300 with the trustee aboard from Honolulu to San Francisco. Gotbaum apparently tried to mention some of the positive things he’s done for the airline, which has been bankrupt since March, but Kobayashi wasn’t swayed and asked Gotbaum to leave, which he did. It’s unclear whether the airline will take any sanctions against Kobayashi but the FAA is staying out of it. “A captain is in charge of his or her ship,” FAA spokesman Donn Walker told the Honolulu Advertiser. “It’s the captain’s place to decide who does or does not fly on his or her plane.” Kobayashi told the Advertiser that many employees are emotional about certain decisions made by Gotbaum, including the freezing of their pension plan. Kobayashi, 55, has been with Hawaiian Airlines for 25 years.