Now BA urges staff to report any drug use by senior colleagues after shamed pilot bragged about snorting cocaine off woman’s bare breasts before trying to fly a packed plane to London
- First Officer Mike Beaton bragged about a drug-fuelled orgy in South Africa
British Airways has told its staff to report any concerns they have about senior colleagues taking drugs after a pilot had a drug-fuelled orgy.
The UK’s flag carrier emailed its workers to remind them about the airline’s ‘zero tolerance policy to any inappropriate behaviour’ after revelations about First Officer Mike Beaton were published on Tuesday.
The pilot was sacked after he bragged to colleagues about snorting cocaine off a woman’s bare breasts in South Africa before trying to fly a packed plane back to London.
The incident caused British Airways to delay the flight by 24 hours while they tried to source a replacement First Officer, costing it £100,000. Beaton was sent home as a passenger, before later leaving the company.
In an email sent to staff today which has been seen by The Sun, British Airways warned they have a responsibility to speak up with their concerns about the behaviour of co-workers.
Revelations about First Officer Mike Beaton (pictured here with his wife) came after it was revealed he bragged about having a drug-fuelled orgy before trying to fly a plane back to the UK
First Officer Mike Beaton was suspended by British Airways and later sacked after a night of debauchery in South Africa
It said: ‘Today’s coverage is a reminder to everyone that we all have an obligation to immediately report any concerns that we have, even if they concern our close colleagues, be they our peers or those more senior to us.’
The paper also reported that the airline even contacted the Met Police about Beaton’s antics, but the force said it was out of their jurisdiction.
It is a remarkable fall from grace for First Officer Beaton who lives in an idyllic £750,000 home in Devon with his Polish wife and their five-year-old daughter.
They run a luxury treehouse retreat business together called Happy Owls, which featured in The Times top 12 treehouse hotels this year.
Beaton’s mother served as an officer in the RAF and has sat as a magistrate in Peterborough since 2005.
She lives with the disgraced pilot’s stepfather, an RAF pilot who flew every member of the Royal Family in a career that saw him invested as a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.
Beaton’s wife declined to comment when approached by The Sun, saying: ‘You must speak to my husband about it.’
The Beatons live in a detached bungalow in Hartland, Devon that backs on to a former quarry where they built up the tree-house retreat.
A neighbour said: ‘She seems to run the holiday business while he is flying. Although it looks like he won’t be doing much more of that. It all sounds like spicy goings-on – not the kind of thing you usually come across in Hartland.’
In text messages to a stewardess, who later reported him to her bosses, he told how he had been ‘very, very naughty’ with two women and two men in Johannesburg.
Telling her to ‘get ready’ for the tale, he goes into minute detail about how he met a ‘Spanish bird’, a ‘Welsh chick’, and two ‘local lads’ in a bar.
The bragging text messages sent by Mr Beaton to a stewardess about his sordid evening in Johannesburg
He recounted how he ‘ended up snorting coke off a girl’s t*** in Joburg’ before he stayed with one of the women and ‘s*****d for aggges’
British Airways was forced to delay the flight from South Africa to Britain for 24 hours while it found a replacement for him
They downed some shots before staggering back to the hotel bar for ‘one last one before bed’ where there’s a ‘bit of snogging’ before ‘we’re somehow all on our way to this dude’s flat’.
It is here that Mr Beaton goes into detail about his sordid drug-fuelled orgy.
‘Welsh has decided that I should actually be her boyfriend – Spanish has hooked up with one of the two local lads and is having her t*** sucked on their sofa,’ he said.
‘We’ve polished off a bottle of vodka at this place now and the girls are dancing topless, I’ve lost my shirt somewhere and one of the local lads produces a plate with a few lines of coke.
‘So then there’s a debate about who’s [sic] chest is the best to do a bump off. Not going to lie, I may have started this with ulterior motives.’
The stewardess appears to be impressed with his evening and replies ‘Babes that’s wild’ before Mr Beaton says: ‘That’s the story of how I ended up snorting coke off a girl’s t*** in Joburg.’
He ‘came to my senses’ when he thought things had gone too far and ‘rescued the girls’ and took them back to their hotel. But his night didn’t end there.
‘Stayed the night with Welsh, sha***d fo aggges (I guess the coke played a part) and then was so f****d I couldn’t even lift my head until gone 2.’
The married father-of-one, pictured, boasted to a colleague about having a drug-fuelled orgy before trying to fly a plane back to the UK
Beaton, pictured in uniform, claimed he had snorted cocaine off a topless woman during the orgy in texts to a colleague
A shocked co-worker raised the alarm on Mr Beaton hours before he was due to co-pilot a flight from South Africa back to Britain after he revealed his night of debauchery.
A source at the airline told The Sun that managers were ‘furious’ when his behaviour was reported to them by his colleagues.
They said the pilot had ‘hoisted himself by his own petard’ even though there would have been no alcohol in his system on his return to the UK, adding: ‘He will never fly again.’
British Airways told MailOnline: ‘Safety is always our top priority. The matter was referred to the CAA and this individual no longer works for us.’
The Civil Aviation Authority told The Sun it has strict procedures in place for when pilots misuse drinks or drugs.
‘An airline must immediately inform us if a UK pilot has misused drink or drugs boarding, or being on board, an aircraft,’ it said.
‘In these cases we would immediately suspend the pilot’s medical which means they cannot fly.
‘In most cases the pilot would have an assessment with an expert medical team and if they wished to return to flying then a comprehensive rehabilitation programme would be put in place.
‘The medical would only be reinstated if we were completely satisfied.’
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