Britiske luftveje piloten sniffede kokain fra en topløs kvindes bryst, savnede hans fly, derefter fik hans læge tilbage og vendte tilbage til et lastrum cockpit
Mike Beaton was a married British Airways first officer with a London-bound long-haul to fly out of Johannesburg. The night before, he snorted cocaine off a topless woman’s chest, kept going into the morning, and did not make the report time. BA cancelled the service. He was fired. The Civil Aviation Authority pulled his medical. The pictures did the rest.
En nat med overskud
Beaton, en gift far til en fra Devon, tog en friaften i Johannesburg før hans planlagte co-pilot skift. I sms 'er til en ven, der arbejder som stewardesse, pralede han: "Jeg har været en meget slem dreng", ifølge Solen.
He started at a bar, then moved through a “standard Joburg setup” in Melrose Arch: the Grillhouse steakhouse and Tiger’s Milk. He claimed he met two local men, a young Spanish woman, and a Welsh woman on vacation. The group ended up at one of the local men’s apartments after hours of drinking. Cocaine came out on a plate. Beaton wrote that the group launched into “a debate about whose chest is the best to do a bump off.” He also wrote, “I’ve lost my shirt somewhere.”
BA aflyste London-flyet
The flight attendant he texted alerted the airline. British Airways blocked him from boarding and cancelled the 12-hour Johannesburg-to-Heathrow service, a delay later costed at about £93,000 to £100,000. A BA spokesperson said there was no risk to passengers because Beaton never sat in the seat. He was suspended, flown home as a passenger, and fired after failing a drug test at the airport. Alcohol was already gone from his system. A Class A drug was not.
An anonymous BA captain told MailOnline that pilot colleagues felt “hugely let down,” describing intoxication in the cockpit as “beyond rare” and “unthinkable.” The Civil Aviation Authority withdrew his medical certificate, the credential a UK pilot must hold to fly. The CAA said any UK pilot found to have abused drugs or alcohol would have a medical immediately suspended, and that restoration happens only after a rehabilitation program and only when the regulator is “completely satisfied.”
Tilbage i et fragtcockpit, så flyselskabet kollapsede
Det ville have været enden på historien i en hårdere industri. Det var det ikke. Omkring halvandet år senere, britiske udsalg rapporterede, at Beaton havde genvundet sin CAA medicin og gik tilbage i et cockpit for europæisk Cargo, en Bournemouth-baseret fragtoperatør flyver konverteret A340s. LBC rapporteret i marts 2025 at han allerede havde gennemført flere fragtflyvninger. CAA afviste at drøfte hans individuelle sag. Europæiske Cargo sagde, at det ikke kommenterede personale, men at alle dets piloter opfyldte CAA standarder. En flykilde fortalte Solen, at det var "ulækkert", at han fik lov til at flyve igen.
Et ATP certifikat er en licens. Genoprettelse er en tilsynsmyndigheds dom, ikke en moralsk nulstilling. Cargo kunder stemmer ikke om, hvem der sidder på venstre sæde. Passagerer på det Johannesburg-fly blev forsinket, fordi et besætningsmedlem valgte et privat værelse over en lovlig hvileperiode.
Europæiske Fragt varede ikke ved. Den 3. juni 2026, Bournemouth fragtselskab indtrådte i administrationen. Administrators at Teneo said the company had ceased trading under fuel-cost and working-capital pressure. One hundred seventy-eight jobs went with it. All six A340 freighters had already been parked. The last revenue flight was May 19, 2026. Beaton’s second act as a cargo first officer ended when the airline did.
Relateret fra organisationen alliance: salonstriden, plus Mærkelige nyheder for flere filer om folk, der behandlede et job som et kostume. Den fulde medicin- restaurering rammer er på UK Civil luftfartsmyndighed sted.
