Advertisement

CNN’s flight instructor fired for sartorial failings; but Mitchell Casado doesn’t make Canada’s wall of shame

Mitchell Casado was fired as a flight simulator instructor because of his poor wardrobe as a CNN expert.

A Canadian flight simulator instructor who made frequent appearances on CNN during its extensive Flight 370 coverage has been fired from his job for dressing unprofessionally and, according to the company's owner, making Canadians "look very bad all over the world."

Mitchell Casado, an instructor for uFly in Mississauga, Ont., announced on Twitter that he had been fired, hinting that it was linked to CNN's waning interest in the company’s services.

CNN logged many hours in the cockpit of one of the company's flight simulators, which is the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared en route to China last month.

uFly company owner Claudio Teixeira said, however, that Casado's termination was caused by showing up late for work and his refusal to dress professionally. Teixeira told the Associated Press that the relaxed jeans and unbuttoned plaid shirts Casdado wore on international television "shamed" the country.

"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 said. "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."

My boss had me training a new guy the last few days, and now that he can do my job, and CNN left, he fired me. That's Ufly.

— Mitchell Casado (@MitchellCasado) April 16, 2014

[ Related: uFly fires Canadian flight simulator instructor who appeared on CNN ]

Hey, Teixeira is a businessman and he is completely allowed to make staffing decision with his company's image in mind. If Casado's Jimmy Buffet-inspired interpretation of "business casual" wasn't flying, so be it.

But Canada has survived much worse than this. Even taking his unfortunate facial hair into consideration, Casado doesn't make the top tier of recent Canadian embarrassments.

Rob Ford

The Mayor of Toronto's catalogue of slapstick pratfalls, drug-related denials, confessions, apologies and more denials, and his uneven embrace of his international infamy have given more than one Canadian pause. His sartorial choices have also an international double-take. How many football neckties and magician outfits does the guy own?

Justin Bieber

The teen pop sensation's bad boy phase is embarrassing. From his drag-racing arrest to his arrest for allegedly punching a limo driver, to an actual White House petition to have him expelled from the United States. Sheesh. Add on top of that a proclivity for shirtlessness – and that time he met the prime minister while wearing damn overalls – and we've got ourselves a real Canadian shame.

Stephen Harper

No need to get overly political, here. Basically every Canadian prime minister has brought some amount of international embarrassment to Canada during their time in office. Harper is in power now, and he hasn't failed on that count. From Canada’s UN Security Council's rejection to his handling of the Senate scandal to, some content, his environment record. Just wait. Someone else will get a chance to be the source of Canada's international political shame eventually. But even then, we'll have that time Harper played dress up for the Calgary Stampede.

Chad Kroeger

The lead singer of Nickelback deserves a break. Thankfully he and wife Avril Lavign have for the most part slipped from the headlines. Still, his mediocre band is inexplicably one of Canada's biggest musical acts, according to the rest of the world. And his goatees are just a bit too much like those worn by... Nickelback fans. Although maybe he has shaved it. I haven't seen a photo of him from the past year or so.

Ben Johnson

For one brief moment the sprinter was Canada's greatest sports hero. Then he tested positive for drugs, had his Olympic medal stripped and became a legitimate source of Canadian shame. Now he's desperately snatching at the spotlight, being a spokesman for a sports drink called Cheetah (sounds like "cheater," get it?) and recently being announced as part of Rob Ford's re-election campaign team. We'll always remember Johnson's thick, pimp-like gold chains... the ones worn for fashion and not ones with Olympic medals dangling from the end.

Casado, stick to the style you love. Plaid shirts are de rigueur. Though maybe button that sucker up next time you’re on television. You’re not starring on Dawson’s Creek.

Want to know what news is brewing in Canada?
Follow @MRCoutts on Twitter.