What's Next for THE LANDING
PLUS: Happy Holidays! AND: FBI threatened Southwest System Chief Pilot David Newton with prison time? What?
Note: This Substack has been getting swarmed by bot subscribers, and there’s not much I can do beyond what I already have with my settings and deleting spam subscriptions when they come in. If you receive any strange messages or communications related to this newsletter, let me know.
Snow is gently swirling out my window. I’m watching fat, fluffy flakes wander lazily through chilly air. It’s not expected to be a bad one. When it’s over, the walkways around my home will be cleared with a few swift shovelfuls tossed on the frozen lawn, and my job will be done.
Maybe there’s a full-on blizzard where you are, or maybe palm trees are swaying through humid skies. Maybe a hot wind is whipping up desert sand. Maybe the weather is simply hanging like a damp towel in locales without seasonal extremes.
You are all over the world. I checked my stats this week and was excited to see how diverse my subscribers are. You hail from 30 countries including Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia and Russia (see list above). In the U.S., interestingly, the majority of my subscribers reside in Texas and Florida. Hmm. Anyone care to speculate as to why that might be? (I kid. It’s…obvious).
This doesn’t include non-subscribing visitors who find this newsletter in great numbers. This is a lurker-heavy publication, I suspect because of the sensitive content and because some people hate-read it and make a point of not subscribing.
I don’t solicit free or paid subscribers. I don’t pressure friends or family or subscription-swap with other Substackers, which is what savvy marketers and would-be influencers do. This subject matter is too heavy, too triggering for anyone who’s not in the frame of mind to read it, and it’s a choice each person has to make to receive this in their inbox a few times a month. Maybe it’s the wrong way to go about it. Maybe I should be promoting, promoting, promoting.
Here’s the problem: I and others in your industry work hard to get each individual story into the slipstream of the all-powerful algorithms, and to position them in a way that airline industry people will grip onto. But this topic makes people incredibly uncomfortable. Gaining traction on social media as people look away to scroll cat videos is a huge challenge.
I wish more people who approach me for help and guidance would sign up for at least a free subscription, and share their colleagues’ stories far and wide. This year, the flight-attendant based stories didn’t do nearly as well as in the past. I implore those who read here to share these pieces with your colleagues and contacts whenever possible.
One day it might be you who needs all the support and publicity you can attract. No one who contacts me ever thinks it will happen to them, and it comes as quite a shock when their airline doesn’t back them up.
Airline employees need to back each other up.
Ok, rant over.
Much more important this week is to say…Merry, happy, joyful holidays to all who celebrate at this time of year! As I write this, some of the big December ones are around the corner, from Christmas to Hanukkah to Kwanzaa.
A Thank you to The Landing’s Paid Subscribers
You are appreciated. I know we’re all spread thin these days, and when it comes to paying for content, there are endless pleas for you to dig into your wallet. Many of you dip in and out of free and paid subscription status, and I appreciate every single contribution—but I also love the vote of confidence you bring with it. Knowing people are reading and finding these stories meaningful and important is inspiring.
Thank you to my paid subscribers, past and present, for putting your faith in me and bearing witness to some of the most personal, traumatic and powerful moments in these women’s lives.
On that Note…
The Capt. Christine Janning case against Southwest Airlines, their pilots’ union, and Cockpit Creep Michael Haak chugs on. We’ll have more updates in the coming weeks and months, but for now, Janning has revealed new details of the retaliation and defamation she says she suffered in her latest amended complaint.
Let’s just say Southwest System Chief Pilot David Newton’s alleged sleazy conduct was noticed by the FBI, which court papers say threatened prison time to Newton.
The filing was covered crisply and in colorful language by our friend and retired Delta Captain Karlene Petitt, who writes on her blog that:
Christine was a federally protected victim/witness, and neither the FBI or the DOJ found Newton’s tactics of revealing their investigation to internal employees or sharing Janning by name with home address amusing, and thus turned their investigations into the retaliatory actions by Janning’s managers, specifically David Newton…
Visit Karlene’s website, linked above, for full context. Here are some of the shocking claims:
Public filings recently emerged in the Christine Janning v. SWA and SWAPA case alleging Southwest System Chief Pilot, David Newton, attempted to obstruct the FBI’s Federal investigation. Apparently, in the hours just after learning that Janning had reported Captain Haak’s crimes to the FBI, David Newton wrote an email to multiple employees revealing Janning’s participation in the FBI investigation, sharing both her name and home address.
As if revealing the identity of a federally protected victim/witness in an ongoing federal investigation wasn’t bad enough, Newton advised that Janning’s removal was pursuant to a section of the contract (CBA 2.C.) which is ONLY reserved for pilots that have committed a crime, been detained by authorities for suspected illicit behavior, or if the pilot has demonstrated tendencies that draw into question their mental fitness for duty. None of which applied to Janning.
In short, a section 2.C. Is a “death sentence.” And according to Janning's recent filing, Newton's 2.C.citation “was done with purpose and malice for the express purpose of advising the recipients, that Ms. Janning was removed for the commission of a crime, and/or for psychological and fitness for duty.”
We’re keeping a close eye on this case and I’ll be writing my own updates in the coming months. Please share these stories and support Christine whenever and wherever possible.
How Was Your Year? AND: Coming up
This entire endeavor—my covering an industry I’m not even tangentially involved in—began with a personal essay that went bananas in airline circles and drew me down into the ultimate rabbit hole. Which means that now and then, you’ll get personal updates. I know that for every one of you who wants to witness the excruciating minutiae of my daily life, there are plenty who don’t, so to you I say, get to scrolling, because next post’s gonna be a doozy.
Do I have regrets? I have thoughts, that’s for sure.
Meanwhile, I wanted to have a semi-positive and not entirely downer holiday post, so here it is.
Next post won’t be so full of holiday cheer. Prepare yourselves (feel free to vote below, in the comments) for 2024’s First Annual Sleaziest Airline Award, for example. Goodness knows there are plenty of contenders.
In my end-of-the-year post I’ll be sharing some personal updates as well as some thoughts for how this publication might survive.
Once again, I hope you are all having a wonderful, or at least tolerable, holiday season, and that you are allowed time for fun and rest and self care.
xoSara
Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed. —Rebecca Solnit
A note on Sten Molin:
I remember being an open, friendly, trusting and VERY green FA eager to please and do well at my job. I remember thinking pilots MUST be good people because they were in a position of such great responsibility. I remember not having the life-skills, wisdom, experience, and mental toughness (that can only come with age), and the ability to tell Sten Molin: “NO. I am NOT interested in you! Leave me alone!”
I remember not understanding at first how manipulative, coercive, and predatory FO Sten Molin’s behaviour was. He made me uncomfortable: late night emails, messing with scheduling so I would always be flying with him, creepy unwelcome ogling, impromptu massages, cuddles, and kisses (you’ve seen the real photo of Molin, he was physically repulsive). I didn’t want to upset or offend Molin by telling him how I really felt. I wanted to tell him to “get lost”, but I was far too polite and well mannered to do so. As women we are taught to be polite and to prioritise men’s feelings, not our own. Then society punishes us and calls us “ stupid” or “naive” and we are victim blamed if we are assaulted. Being young and naive is not our shame. Believing people are good and expecting the best of others is a reflection of our own goodness and not something we should be ashamed of. So when Sten Molin knocked on my hotel room door with an offer of alcohol he had “specially made just for me”, against my better instincts and judgement I let him in. After plying me with alcohol Molin raped me.
Shortly after my rape Molin was responsible for the second worst aviation disaster in American history. American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into Rockaway Queens shortly after takeoff killing Molin and 264 innocent people. In terms of human fatality, and removing plane disasters caused by factors other than pilot error, Molin was responsible for the worst plane crash in American aviation history, and the 5th worst plane crash in aviation history.
Molin had the gift of the gab. Ostensibly and superfically , he was friendly, happy, always with a quick smile and a joke. I have no doubt many of Molin’s friends still remember the happy, outgoing man with a zest for life. In Greenwich Molin maintained the carefully constructed facade of the good son and friend, a decent trustworthy guy always ready to lend a hand. With some pilots Molin was also the upstanding gentlemen who was friendly with everyone.
Molin however, wore masks. He lived many different lives in the many different parts of the world he travelled to. He let the mask drop only with “certain” people- those of us he considered beneath him. Cleaners, those from socially disadvantaged communities, maintenance workers, but most of all young flight attendants and underage girls he could groom and manipulate all saw who Molin really was. In an instant Molin could turn from “ good guy" to predator. It was a violent, jarring awakening, like a blow to your solar plexus that left you breathless. Your friend was gone, and Sten Molin, rapist and pedophile remained.
The real Molin was cunning and clever. He was a prolific liar and skilled at manipulation. He told elaborate carefully crafted lies to impress whomever was targeting. Victims were regaled with stories about his glory days as a fighter pilot, whose friend tragically died in a training accident. For some he was secretly working for NASA or a NORAD spy. For others Molin came from a hard scrabble background and worked tirelessly to fund Yale Medicine working as a bartender.
After the crash and news of Molin’s life made the media some of us who knew Molin in his American Airlines life were asking: “who was Molin? “ In the media there was no mention of Yale or NASA or military service. This was all puzzling and perplexing. Didn’t Molin go to Yale? Didn’t he graduate summa cum laude with a degree in Medicine?
Was Molin the youngest Yale scholarship holder? Was he the youngest pilot ever hired by American Airlines as his father often boasted in the news media shortly after the crash? Was Molin a fighter pilot? Was Molin ANY of these things? Much to our surprise it turned out Molin was very ordinary. He grew up in a modest home in Greenwich. He dropped out of a third-rate college before training to be a pilot at a “mom and pop” aviation school in Tennesse, now long since closed. He never graduated college. He obtained a bogus qualification from a Diploma mill. He wasn’t much of a commercial airline pilot either. He had a previous well-documented history of “wigging out” to minor upsets during flights. A Captain called him out for “gunning the rudder” in response to minor wake turbulence. He had gunned the engines and yanked back the yoke violently pitching up to escape another minor jet wash encounter. Were there more such incidents that were never uncovered during the N.T.S.B investigation into the crash? Given the “don’t snitch on your crew rule” very likely.
Molin’s victims( who have spoken directly to journalist Sara Hammel) remember reporting Molin’s predation to American Airlines. They remember being dismissed, ignored, their complaints of serious abuse trivialised. They remember being treated as expendable and replaceable. In the case of Flight 587 flight attendants were the canaries in the coal mine.
They reported that Molin was unstable, erratic, and unpredictable. They reported on layovers Molin plied young FAs with alcohol and gallantly escorted them back to their hotel rooms and only once behind a closed hotel room door lifted his mask and violently raped them. No one was listening and no one cared. A young FA doesn’t have a voice especially when challenging a male commercial airline pilot.
Molin chose his victims carefully. He had a type: small thin women he could easily overpower with his size and weight. There were rumors about Molin’s bizarre obsession with a very thin underage girl in a distant land. Molin cleverly groomed underage girls, some of whom still remain captivated by his superficial charm and prolific lies. Molin never served in the military. The records are conclusive.
Molin was tall and gangly, with a large nose, beady eyes and thin lips. He was wasn’t any young heterosexual female flight attendants’ dream of a dashing former military pilot, so he told lies to boost his image. He cultivated a mystique surrounding his childhood with tall tales of fleeing the Stasi, tunnelling under the Berlin Wall and heroic military service. He would brag and boast, some of the old line pilots would roll their eyes and chuckle, but us younger FAs believed him. From boarding to touchdown Molin would talk non-stop. A Captain called him “that motormouth”, others enjoyed his company and willingness to listen to their problems.
Molin would make unreasonable demands of FAs, whom he treated as his servants. We were to be at his beck and call. “Get me a coffee or this plane isn’t going anywhere”, Molin would demand. Molin LOVED coffee, and anything to give him an adrenaline boost. When he died the stimulant ephedrine was found in his system.
On layovers Molin would lounge by the pool or party with the FAs at bars or clubs, anywhere alcohol was freely available. Molin, however was a teetotaller. He rarely drank, but he would carefully watch the young FAs drink shot after shot, often actively encouraging it. He was happy to pay for drinks when us broke FAs ran out of money and our glasses were empty. Molin was flush with cash and he would keep the alcohol flowing, buying FAs fancy cocktails with ridiculous hypersexualized names like “sex on the beach” or “sweet poison” or “pop my cherry”. (Yes, three FAs recall this). We thought it was funny, but we didn’t know it came with a catch, and we didn’t know Molin’s true intentions.
Molin’s MO “modus operandi” was well honed. Crafty and intelligent Molin knew that assaulting women in the upper class enclave of Greenwich Connecticut would destroy his carefully constructed “good guy” facade. So he chose to assault young FAs in distant lands on layovers where help was away far and there in the middle of the night after drinks, Molin would accompany a lone flight attendant back to an empty dark hotel room. Once the door was firmly closed, Molin's friendly, courteous demeanor would disappear.
Molin’s “signature” was to overpower victims by using his upper body strength to push you down onto the bed. He would compress victims with his body weight almost like a small butterfly pinched to a spreading board. If you did not comply with Molin's sexual demands, Molin would not punch you or threaten you with physical violence. His approach was almost “gentle”. He would whisper “it’s ok, it’s ok” over and over into your ear, as if trying to soothe you or convince himself that this wasn’t a “real” assault. A real assault happens in a seedy, dark, alleyway. A rapist is a stranger in a trench coat holding a knife to your throat and threatening you with death. Surely a rapist isn’t the goofy, bespectacled nice guy who your senior First Officer!?
But we know now in the age of #MeToo that a rapist can be anyone. He or she can be a media executive, a successful Hollywood producer, a well-known rapper, he can be everyone’s favourite comedian, the goofy, amiable doctor of the US Women’s Gymnastics Team (Larry Nassar). Or in my case the ordinary, well regarded friendly American Airlines pilot. Successful predators are often ordinary men and women just like us, and this scares us because it means predators can be anyone and that also means anyone can be a victim.
Sten Molin raped me and many others. He also groomed and assaulted underage girls. I know this is painful to hear for many who considered Molin to be a dear friend. But it is the truth and victims have a right to speak the truth. Sara Hammel has spoken directly with MANY of Molin’s victims. We are real. This is not a smear campaign.
I am thinking of posting this on Medium to counter some of the pro Molin spamming by one person. As you can tell writing isn’t my forte. Would this be ok? Anyone with any further information on Molin or story suggestions (there are so many out there and I have gone through old comments to craft this first draft) please contact me at maireadconlan343@gmail.com