A former Allegiant Airlines pilot who was fired after ordering an aircraft evacuation in June is suing the airline. Jason Kinzer was captain on the MD-80 that departed June 8 from St. Petersburg, Florida, when flight attendants reported smelling smoke. Kinzer declared an emergency, the jet returned to the airport and the crew deployed emergency slides. Kinzer’s wrongful termination lawsuit, filed this week in district court in Clark County, Nevada, charges he was fired illegally after Allegiant told him the evacuation was unnecessary and caused unwanted media attention. In a press briefing this week with his lawyer, Mike Pangia, Kinzer said after landing, fire and rescue crews reported smoke was coming out the left engine and he followed standard procedures when ordering the evacuation. Allegiant investigators later questioned the crew about the incident. On July 23, Kinzer received a call that he was terminated. “I was totally shocked,” he said.
The flight, originally departing for Maryland, had 141 passengers and six crew members on board. Three passengers and one flight attendant were injured during the evacuation, according to media reports. One detail during the incident — which Kinzer’s lawyers hope to figure out — is who reportedly called on an ATC frequency to hold off evacuating. When asked about the unidentified voice, Pangia said it remains unknown, but someone could have transmitted from a handheld radio. The evacuation in June was among a series of emergencies that have drawn media attention to Allegiant. In October, an Allegiant jet departing Las Vegas aborted takeoff due to an engine fire. Emergency slides were deployed but not used as passengers boarded buses to the terminal.
