Fired pilot hopes for job back

Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

A judge has reserved his decision in the case of a former Air Nelson pilot seeking reinstatement after he was fired for drinking excessively the night before a flight and having sex with a young flight attendant.

The pilot, a captain, whose name was suppressed in an Employment Court hearing in Auckland, and two other crew members had a drinking session with two bottles of wine and six beers while on an unscheduled stopover in Napier in May 2008.

The amount of alcohol consumed was contested.

The pilot was accused of coaxing the two crew members into changing from their uniforms into bathrobes, and inviting the 19-year-old flight attendant to his bedroom where they had sex.

The woman claims that she has no memory of what happened after midnight, but earlier gave evidence that she would never sleep with the man because he had a wife and children, and she had her period at the time.

She phoned two friends and her father early the next morning in a distressed state saying she thought they had had sex, and she had not consented.

In his evidence, the pilot said she had initiated the sex and had left the room "with a smile on her face".

The pilot's lawyer John Haigh, QC, said the Air Nelson investigation ignored all aspects of the case which may have been favourable to the plaintiff.

"Furthermore, there was never any effort to contemplate alternatives to dismissal.

"Once (the woman) had been believed that was the end of it."

The three had stopped drinking before 11.30pm, meaning they did not breach the company's policy on drinking the night before a flight so safety was never compromised, he said.

Giving the man his job back would not tarnish the company's reputation and there were no other practicable reasons why he should not be reinstated.

Air Nelson's lawyer Kit Toogood, QC, said the pilot's actions had been irresponsible and there was no reason for the woman to make up the allegations.

"Why else would she be phoning two of her girlfriends and her father in a hugely distressed state?"

Air Nelson's decision to sack the man was entirely justifiable, if only based on the late night drinking session the trio had.

"Do you think those passengers would be saying 'it's perfectly all right for you to fly me to Auckland?'...That was the concern of the company."

Judge Mark Perkins reserved his decision.

- NZPA