This article originally aired on The Gateway Pundit and was republished with permission.
Guest post by J.M. Phelps
An experienced airline pilot claims he faced retaliation for opposing the COVID-19 shot, which he believes undermined personal liberties and aviation safety across the industry. He contends that these matters should be investigated as facts about the so-called vaccine and surrounding policies continue to emerge.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Captain Bahig Saliba, a pilot who dedicated over 27 years to American Airlines. He opposed the airline’s policies and practices that were implemented during the declared pandemic. That led him to initiate pro se legal action against the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) beginning in 2022, alleging retaliation and federal aviation law violations.
Saliba expressed concern regarding the infringement of personal liberties and aviation safety, noting that retaliation manifested in various forms, including a demand by American Airlines for a fitness for duty examination without any reason given, even when Saliba had an impeccable record.
Saliba emphasized that federal agencies must adhere to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which outlines the processes for rulemaking. “However, under the sovereign immunity umbrella,” he said, “agencies possess a wide range of discretion in rule and decision making.” With this discretion, he remarked, “agencies may not violate the law, but they often do.”
He argued that the FAA’s Federal Air Surgeon, Dr. Susan Northrup, wields the most discretion of all within the agency. She has the authority to medically certify pilots and air traffic controllers as well as to issue FAA medical certificates, he explained, adding, “that authority includes the prohibition or authorization of medication for use by holders of such certificates.”
“While the FAA medical certification is a civilian branch of government,” Saliba pointed out that “the U.S. military also benefits from the FAA expertise and authority in the field of aviation medicine.”
“The medical certification is not a simple visit to an FAA Aeromedical Examiner (AME) for a physical checkup,” the former airline pilot disclosed. Rather, it is a legal process detailed by Northrup herself in the video below.
“The FAA pilot medical certification process is an honor system safeguarded by Title 18 of the United States Code (18 U.S.C.),” Saliba shared. “This is critical because all health declarations pilots make are to be trusted by the people they carry.”
For Saliba, this raises a critical question. “Does a coerced medical treatment, under threat, produce a coerced and illegal declaration by the pilot receiving such treatment?” His answer to that question is “Yes, it breaks a link in the safety chain in aviation.”
He added, “The definite adverse side effects of the shots, as advertised by the manufacturers, which include blood clotting and heart complications, may permanently ground pilots; thus, pilots are less likely to declare such conditions, while they continue to fly, for fear of losing their medical and their livelihood.”
“Historically, for safety reasons,” Saliba said, “the FAA does not consider any medication that has not been fully FDA approved for at least 12 months.”
However, in the case of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) drugs, the FAA moved quickly and granted approval for their use immediately after receiving FDA approval.
Saliba shared that many, including Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who is an outspoken critic and an advocate for EUA-injured pilots, have raised a legitimate safety concern regarding why and how the FAA acted so swiftly, deviating from standard procedures.
“The FAA has never officially stated the true reason for the EUA authorization; however, in an interview given by Northrup shortly after she became the Federal Air Surgeon on January 17, 2021,” he said, “the reason for such authorization was revealed.”
Northrup disclosed that “…the office of Aerospace medicine had never approved a medication or treatment that was not fully approved by the FDA for at least a year. However, given the critical nature of attaining herd immunity, to date we have approved three vaccines approved by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorizations…”
Northrup’s statement was “explosive” because, according to Saliba, “the FAA does not have agency authority granted in the law to ‘attain herd immunity’ (emphasis mine).”
“It is in fact quite the opposite. The FAA’s goal, for safety reasons, is to limit or guide the use of drugs by pilots as best it can, and the medical certification process does not lend itself to attaining herd immunity, he explained.”
“While herd immunity remains a subject of debate,” Saliba contended, “the FAA exceeded its authority; therefore, the EUAs have been unlawfully authorized and thus illegal.”
“A court ruling that finds the FAA did indeed exceed its authority requires the court to strike the authorization of the EUA drugs, which will send a shockwave in the airline industry, and the air traffic controller ranks and possibly the military.” That Judicial Review Case No. 26-1042 is currently at the D.C. Court of Appeals.
In late 2023, Saliba also filed an FAA safety complaint regarding airline pressure on pilots to use the EUAs, which included the use of Johnson & Johnson between April 19, 2021, and December 23, 2022. “Following reports of rare but serious blood clotting in the brain,” he said, “the FDA suspended the J&J for a short time, but the FAA followed the pause recommendation for the longer period.”
“The FAA Office of Audit and Evaluation initiated an investigation that was immediately shelved by Northrup,” said the former commercial pilot. He added that Northrup’s refusal to investigate generated the first Mandamus lawsuit. A Mandamus is the legal mechanism to compel the FAA to perform non-discretionary duty. Currently, Case No. 25-3884, is pending before the Ninth Circuit on appeal.
“Striking the EUA authorization and compelling the FAA to investigate may allow injured pilots and air traffic controllers to find remedy and vindicate those who refused to use these drugs,” Saliba concluded.
Copyright 2026 The Gateway Pundit
Didn't the rise in arrthymias and other cardiac issues after the coerced Covid injection program result in changes to the FAA annual physical parameters to keep people with heart ailments flying that otherwise would have to be fired?