Flyben lentäjät sättivät toisiaan lennolla ja saivat potkut

[Sami Pirinen 0]

Metro -lehti kertoo:

 

Flybe pilots sacked after 'my bitch' jibe led to mid-air row

Two Flybe pilots were sacked for turning the air blue after the captain called the first officer 'his bitch' and was told to 'f*** off' in reply, a tribunal has heard.

Pilots are used to flying through turbulence – but come unstuck when things get bumpy in the cockpit.

Captain Stephen Bird and co-pilot Stephen Akers argued about whether to avoid real turbulence on the way to Malaga, Spain, from Exeter.

Mr Akers was said to have become agitated when his suggestion to fly around the bad weather was ignored by Mr Bird, who is accused of telling him to ‘just fly the plane’.

The first officer is alleged to have called Mr Bird a ‘control freak’ but he claimed Mr Bird ‘shouted threats and I attempted to stop him harassing me by telling him to f*** off’.

The return flight was in ‘virtual silence’ with Mr Akers reading a newspaper on the ‘perfectly safe and uneventful’ trip.

But the pair, in their 50s, were sacked because their ‘massive breakdown’ was a ‘potential safety risk.

They were seated side by side again yesterday as they brought an unfair dismissal case against the airline.

The flight deck was already tense on the trip last May when Mr Bird told Mr Akers he left paperwork for him ‘because you’re my bitch’.

Mr Bird, from Devon, said banter was common between colleagues, many of whom were ex-military.

It was made ‘in jest’, he insisted, adding he did not realise former RAF Sqn Ldr Mr Akers ‘found it offensive’. He later offered him his ‘sincere apologies’.

He also admitted to Mr Akers he was wrong not to avoid the bad weather but explained the already-late flight would have been delayed further. The plane landed safely.

Two weeks earlier, the plane Mr Akers was flying was struck by lightning and severe turbulence.

Mr Bird went to shake the hand of his colleague when they landed back in Exeter but Mr Akers demanded ‘a f***ing apology’ and ‘stormed off’.

He said he was aware of Mr  Akers’s temper but felt the plane did not need to be grounded in Malaga as a result of a ‘relatively minor altercation’.

The Exeter hearing continues.

 

Juttu löytyy täält: Metro

 

[Jan-Erik Andelin 7]

Lisää:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132088/Flybe-pilots-sacked-called-bitch-mid-flight-bust-up.html

 

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