Pilots’ union sues American Airlines over training dispute

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines and its pilots’ union are fighting over changes that the airline plans to make in how pilots train in flight simulators. The union sued American on Thursday in federal district court in Fort Worth. The lawsuit challenges American’s solution for handling situations in which one of the two pilots going through flight-simulator training is absent. Currently, the absent pilot is replaced with a “check” pilot who is specially trained to evaluate fellow pilots. American wants to replace them with regular pilots, who the airline says are highly qualified to substitute for an absent colleague during simulator training.