BA pilot suspected of being drunk arrested in the cockpit at Gatwick

BA pilot suspected of being drunk arrested in the cockpit at Gatwick | Secret Flying

A British Airways pilot was arrested after flight attendants on flight BA2063 to Mauritius called 999 after allegedly smelling alcohol on the officer’s breath.

 

Armed police stationed at Gatwick Airport arrested a British Airways pilot just before takeoff after the cabin crew suspected he was drunk.

 

The BA2063 flight to Mauritius on Thursday was scheduled to depart Gatwick’s South Terminal at 8.20pm, but was delayed until just before 11pm as officers boarded the plane and removed the pilot.

 

The first officer was one of three pilots and would have taken the Boeing 777 controls for part of the 11-hour flight.

 

An airline source told British tabloid newspaper, The Sun: “Cops rushed on to the plane and headed straight for the cockpit. The first officer was cuffed and led away.”

 

Police said a 49-year-old man from Harmondsworth, Hillingdon, was “arrested on suspicion of performing an aviation function while his alcohol level was over the prescribed limit”.

 

British Airways said it was taking the matter “extremely seriously.”