A British Airways pilot has been sacked after boasting to a flight attendant about a very “naughty” layover in South Africa fueled by every conceivable debauchery then trying to fly a packed aircraft to London with booze and drugs still in his system.
“Naughty” British Airways Pilot Boasts About Debauched Layover
I guess it goes without saying that if you are going to go out and party during your rest period between flights, you probably should not boast about it 1.) especially to a flight attendant 2.) if you are a pilot 3.) assigned to operate the return flight.
Mike Beaton is was first officer for British Airways, married man, and father of one. But common sense evaded him during a layover in Johannesburg, South Africa and he proceeded to spend the night with:
- booze
- drugs
- women
Think orgies and snorting cocaine off the chest of topless women…
Apparently, he ran into “two local lads” as well as a female Welsh holidaymaker and a “young Spanish bird” at a bar…and the rest is history.
I’m not going to quote the text messages verbatim, but let’s just say they are extremely graphic (you can read them here). Yes, Beaton decided to boast to a flight attendant about what happened:
“I’ve been a very naughty boy.”
Then Beaton showed up to pilot the British Airways’ Boeing 777 back to London (LHR). It may have been a friend he confided in, but with the flight full and 300 souls at risk, she reported him to authorities who conducted a drug test.
He failed.
The flight was canceled, costing British Airways over £100,000.
Beaton was then flown as a passenger to London the following day where he was drug tested again. This time, the alcohol has passed through his system, but the cocaine showed up.
And he was sacked.
British Airways has offered a very detailed explanation:
“This individual no longer works for us.”
I want to commend the flight attendant for reporting her friend. That sort of behavior is unbecoming of a pilot and she may have been criminally liable had she ignored the threat and something happened during the flight. As sad as it is to rat on a friend, sometimes there is no other way.
CONCLUSION
A British Airways pilot has been fired after a drug-fueled night with strangers he met in a bar in South Africa. When he reported to work to pilot the flight home, a flight attendant he boasted to about the incident thankfully ratted him out.
Rather than lament for Beaton and express hope that he gets the “help” he needs, I hope he realizes that his evening cost him his career and may now cost him his marriage. This sort of debauchery is simply not worthwhile.
BA seems to have comported itself properly after the fact, but the existence of the texts and the free discussion among colleagues about what transpired suggests not only a rogue pilot but also a general cultural problem within BA where this sort of thing seems to be accepted as normal, at least to some extent – as it is becoming in society more generally and it is easy to notice that that strong societal norms against impaired driving are disappearing with reference to driving while high on marijuana which has become commonplace and accepted as normal in many places.
Fortunately these planes significantly fly themselves, until they suddenly can’t, and that’s when a sober pilot is always critical and non-negotiable.
“Be alert and of sober mind” , 1 Peter 5:8 . The safety of many ( including our family ) depends on our individual righteous behavior .
I prefer this one:
“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” Ecclesiastes 9:7
But yeah, probably not before you fly a jet back to Heathrow.
Doing something like that and boasting in writing about it is extremely foolish, but doing it in one of the most dangerous cities in the world is on a completely different level. It was only a few weeks ago that his colleague got attacked while jogging outside of the hotel, I think that , even if his career has been screwed up, he has done rather well to come out of that alive.
As my Dad explained to me as I hit adulthood: “You are your own worst enemy”!!
I hope he is a good singer so he can find a subway station in London to sing and have his hat on the ground so people can throw him some coins. Seriously, how do you explain this to your family? “Hey honey, I got naughty in South Africa and now I lost my job.” WTF goes to people’s minds?
How would you even explain it to similarly inclined friend: “I created a written record of all of the things I was doing that I shouldn’t be, and sent that to someone else, kind of like confessing to a crime before being suspected of it.”
The reality here is that this guy has finally done some really good things. He rid the world of a stupid and irresponsible pilot, and he made sure that his wife and his child know exactly what kind of person he is.
I agree Matthew – this isn’t about doing something in your private life, this is about recklessly endangering every single passenger and crew member on that return leg.
Kids don’t use drugs. You will do foolish things that are a risk to your health and welfare, and they will make you stupid enough to memorialize your idiotic behavior. Which in this case may have saved lives.
I read this story yesterday and the one thing not mentioned here is that he and is wife also own a “luxury hot tub retreat” in Devon. My first thoughts being, when did a hot tub become luxury and maybe this explains a lot? Just, what goes on at a luxury hot tub retreat?
I hope you are feeling better from the COVID.
Hot tubs are quite common in the US in a peer group that includes frequent air travelers and folks who fly in the front of the plane, but considerably less common in other populations. It’s pretty fair to suggest that a significant percentage of the UK population would consider a hot tub a luxury item.
Stuart, I don’t know what actually goes on in the retreat (some out of the way cabins with a hot tub that plays sleazy porn music and has water jets for the ah moment???) Shudder. Which is a good reason to avoid any vat of nasty public water.
Eat some fruit and rest. ; )
Stupid Human Tricks: use social media to brag about something stupid or illegal (thereby essentially admitting and confessing your guilt beyond any reasonable doubt). Some attorneys love to talk about the cases they’ve won based on social media. Medically retired railroad worker due to back pain with videos on Facebook and Instagram doing home construction and playing basketball … a 3rd grader could predict the outcome. Yes, clearly more concerning for a pilot but the basic stupidity is the same, bragging about something stupid or illegal.
While quite the hypocrite, Ravi Zacharias was right when he said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Employees and passengers with “personality problems,” are not that uncommon especially when you’re young. He’ll probably look back when he’s 50 and say how stupid he was.
I thought BA flew JNB LHR with A380s (BA 54 and BA 56). But the articles say he was a B777 pilot