A Canadian flight instructor who has been one of CNN’s go-to experts in its exhaustive coverage of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has been fired at least in part because of his fondness for unbuttoned plaid shirts worn over white undershirts. Mitchell Casado was let go by Toronto-based uFly on Wednesday after spending most of the previous month conducting interviews with CNN reporter Martin Savidge in the cockpit of uFly’s Boeing 777 simulator. On days when the news and speculation about the flight was capturing world attention, the duo spent as much as 18 hours in the sim. Casado even started giving actual flying lessons to Savidge. But according to uFlight owner Claudio Teixeira, the laid-back instructor also “shamed Canadians” by appearing on camera in casual attire.
“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 told the Associated Press. “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.” But he also said Casado failed to show up for some paying customers earlier this week and Teixiera alleged that had happened before. Casado responded with a tweet that alleged he had recently been assigned to train a new instructor and that after the CNN crew left he was let go. He has since declined comment.
