It has the wheels facing down, the rings outside and the bottom facing up.
Welcome to the wild world of pilot and aircrew parties that turn layovers into Tinder-powered bacchanals.
The wild scene centered on the revelation that a married British Airways pilot snorted cocaine from the breasts of a topless woman hours before a London-bound flight was due to fly the plane.
“I’ve been a very naughty boy,” he texted a colleague.
And while you might be an outlier in, say, cabin crew, you’re certainly not alone.
“I’ve seen a pilot vomit during dinner on a layover from drinking so much,” said an Alaska Airlines flight attendant.
“He must have had something in his hotel room, so he was on another level when he came to dinner. After dinner, the captain walked him back to his room and he probably slept for 15 hours.”
It seemed to help: It didn’t reek of alcohol at the gate, the 15-year-old flight attendant recalls.
When the plan lands on a stopover, it’s the start of the party for some pilots and assistants, and it can get crazy. Svitlana – stock.adobe.com
“He arrived on the plane dressed professionally and, in my opinion, was not hungover,” the attendant said.
“Was I nervous at all? No. Did he break any rules? None,” he said. “Did he stop drinking before the 10 hour rule? Absolutely.”
Marika Mikusova, who chronicled her five years in the skies in the 2022 “Diary of a Stewardess,” never encountered drunk colleagues, but recalled the “comical” scenario of seeing pilots in wedding rings during pre-flight briefings. .
“As soon as we landed and met at the airport to collect our bags, the ring mysteriously disappeared from her ring finger,” Mikusova, 34, from the Czech Republic, told The Post.
Mike Beaton, a married British Airways pilot, snorted cocaine from the breasts of a topless woman while in Johannesburg, South Africa, just hours before a scheduled flight to London.
“Things like that happened from time to time. Pilots are considered a ‘hot thing’ among (not just) single cabin crew, so it wasn’t a surprise when a colleague of mine shared too much detail about a jacuzzi the captain had in his room and how he enjoyed it. scale there.”
Meanwhile, another flight attendant at a major US airline said adultery plagues the industry, driven largely by “super charismatic” womanizing pilots who emulate Hollywood stars.
“I don’t know if they saw ‘Catch Me If You Can’ or something like that and decided to try to become Leonardo DiCaprio,” he said.
The charismatic Frank Abagnale, Jr., played by Leonardo DiCaptio in “Catch Me If You Can,” has inspired real-life pilots to try their luck on scale, The Post reports.©DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I had a friend who had a different Tinder date in every city we went to. He tells the ladies that it’s a casual thing, so he feels like it’s his business.”
The industry veteran who runs a podcast, Flight Attendant Confessional, where he shares stories gleaned from more than 5 million miles on a major U.S. airline, told The Post: “There are a lot of cheaters in the airline industry. Pilots and flight attendants.
“A friend of mine was dating a guy who had two lives. His girlfriend and his family with children. She had no idea.
“He lived with his wife and children in one city and resided in another city. Being away an extra night every once in a while wouldn’t go unnoticed in this job.
A former flight attendant from Los Angeles said, “Just like in any industry, just because you can pass a background check doesn’t mean you’re a good person and follow the rules.”
“Even one of the guys I really admired cheated on a friend of mine. He would be very nervous about dating within the industry. But some of the drivers are really good people.”
A former flight attendant from Los Angeles said, “Just like in any industry, just because you can pass a background check doesn’t mean you’re a good person and follow the rules.
“There are people suffering from addiction problems and the union has resources to help.”
Most flight attendants “tend to drink a lot” after their shifts, especially the “stressful ones,” another told The Post.
Some pilots “bid to make stops to go out drinking and having fun,” according to the Alaska Airlines employee.
Marika Mikusova, 34, author of “Diary of a Stewardess,” told The Post how a colleague met with a captain in the jacuzzi in his room and then told him everything. Courtesy: Marika Mikusova
“We get together as a team and after a long day serving customers and standing around, everyone wants to relax and go have a drink and a fun meal together,” he said.
“Some opt for more fun stopovers with many bars and restaurants and go out on each stopover and find a fun bar.
“I really think it’s no different than being in a fun city at home and hanging out with your friends. “We’re just in a random city we’ve never been to, so it’s more fun to explore as a team.”
Random drug and alcohol checks largely discourage pilots and flight attendants from riotous partying while on the road, but most flight crew drink when they’re not at work, he says.
Those after-hours outings with overworked colleagues can get a little crazy, one flight attendant confessed.
“I’ve seen a lot of drinking,” the assistant at a major U.S.-based airline told The Post. “Sometimes we party by the pool, go out to bars and stuff. But as long as you have enough time before your flight, that is allowed. “Alcoholism is a problem in the airline industry.”
Hotel bars are becoming the norm for many, he said, or there are planes full of temptations in the form of drinks for passengers or duty-free sales.
“There’s also a lot of access to free alcohol if people are willing to risk their jobs to get alcohol off the plane,” he said.
“The airlines know it’s a problem.”
Messages from major international airlines, including Alaska Airlines, seeking comment were not returned.
But other flight attendants contacted by The Post insisted that Mike Beaton, the former British Airways pilot who was arrested when he showed up to fly still allegedly drunk and high, is a departure from other captains and not the business standard.
Former Emirates flight attendant Kamila Jakubjakova (right) said most aviators in her experience were actually a docile bunch. “The reality is that many pilots are much older than the crew, married and not as attractive,” she said. Courtesy: Kamila Jakubjakova
Kamila Jakubjakova, a former Emirates flight attendant, now enjoys a quieter lifestyle in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she runs a travel blog, Expat in Canada.
The Slovakia native said it was not uncommon for captains to connect with the crew.
“This would be in free time or during a layover, not at work, of course,” he said, but added: “The idea of pilots seems to be a little too romanticized.
“The reality is that many pilots are much older than the crew, married and not as attractive.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn