A lawsuit has been filed over vaccine mandates required by Atlas Air, a New York cargo and charter airline, with further suits planned against 17 more major airlines, the FAA, and the Department of Transport.
The suit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, is being pursued by US Freedom Flyers, an “all-volunteer group of America’s transportation professionals… who share a specific mission: to protect your inalienable right to travel freely without government obstruction based on your vaccination status.”
Brought on behalf of over 100 plaintiffs, who are mostly unvaccinated pilots and flight attendants, the suit argued that the case is about “whether Americans should be required to choose between their livelihoods and being coerced into taking an experimental, dangerous medical treatment”:
“It is also about the safety of America’s airline industry. Should pilots—under federal regulation required to be among the healthiest workers in the United States—who have taken an experimental ‘vaccine’ that is now shown to have potentially deadly, long-term side effects, be allowed to fly massive aircraft in our skies? While those who have (smartly) refrained from such a course be forced out of their jobs?”
Josh Yoder, a spokesman for Freedom Flyers, who is himself an airline pilot, said that they were pursuing the case via individual litigants and not a class action suit because “so many people have been harmed and people have experienced different levels of harm,” giving examples of people who were intimidated into getting vaccinated, and others who did it under threat of being fired.
“In addition, we have the vaccine-injured, and the numbers of vaccine-injured are growing by the day,” Yoder told the Epoch Times, saying that “many pilots” were experiencing health issues, specifically cardiac conditions in most of the cases.
“Many of these pilots are afraid to come forward because if they come forward they lose their flight physical, they lose their flight medical,” Yoder said. “So they’re continuing to fly. We have a lot of pilots that are flying with chest pain and neurological conditions, because if they come forward they lose their careers,” adding that they needed to come forward for the safety of the public.
Further lawsuits over vaccine mandates are set to be launched against 17 other major airlines, the FAA, and the Department of Transport. Attorney Josh Pierce revealed that the next lawsuit is going to be filed against United Airlines next week.
“We’re gonna get these vaccine mandate type of rules and COVID restrictions ruled unconstitutional,” Pierce said, but noted that a “big fix” is going to be required, most likely in the form of legislation. “The first step is civil litigation,” he added.
