BA pilot was almost 6 times limit in the cockpit of his jet
Bosses were warned years ago about a drunken British Airways pilot who was nearly six times the limit as his holiday jet taxied for take-off.
First officer Julian Monaghan, 49, was hauled from the cockpit of the Boeing 777 in handcuffs by armed police as it prepared to leave Gatwick for Mauritius.
In court yesterday he admitted reporting for duty as a pilot while over the limit and was told to expect at least nine months in jail.
It can now also be revealed that BA was told seven years ago that Monaghan allegedly posed a ‘safety risk’. Managers were given a written warning by a cabin crew member in 2011 after a ‘very drunken’ argument between the pair in a bar. The letter accused Monaghan of being a safety risk and warned he was ‘not fit to operate’.
BA sources insisted yesterday that a drunken argument in a bar did not amount to a safety risk on a plane, and the airline said in a statement last night: ‘We thoroughly investigated this allegation about a disagreement between two colleagues, and there was no suggestion that the pilot was drinking in the 24 hours before he reported for duty.’
Mel Wotton, prosecuting at Crawley Magistrates’ Court yesterday, said the latest incident happened around 8pm on January 18 when Monaghan boarded the 300-passenger airliner.
‘one of the aircraft technicians was concerned they could smell alcohol on the pilot,’ she added. ‘Bosses spoke to police, who duly arrived and they could also smell alcohol on his breath.’
she said a breath test was carried out and Monaghan was found to have 52 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 9mg for a pilot. A blood test showed he had 86 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood. While the drink-drive limit is 80mg, it is 20mg for pilots. emlyn Jones, defending, said that while the matter was ‘very serious’, the level of alcohol was so low that if it had been a drinkdrive case Monaghan would not have been charged.
But chairman of the bench Dr David Higgins said: ‘We have to say the comparison to drink-driving is somewhat spurious. Driving a Boeing 777 is somewhat differjoined ent to driving a car on the road.’ Pilots are obliged follow a strict ‘bottle to throttle’ policy in which they are not allowed to drink eight hours before their flight.
Mr Jones said that while his client had drunk a vodka and coke at 10.30am that day, on take- off ‘he was a non-operator, the third pilot’ and was not due to fly until several hours into the 12-hour flight. He added Monaghan, who BA in 2001, had been a passenger on a flight the night before and had not slept.
‘He had the drinks that morning to help him sleep in the afternoon,’ said Mr Jones, and was ‘horrified’ to find he was over the limit.
‘No harm was in fact caused. He was careless, not reckless or wilfully ignoring the prohibition of alcohol before the flight.
‘By his guilty plea he has thrown away the only career he has ever known. He has been a pilot his whole life and that has gone.’
Dr Higgins sent the case to a higher court for sentencing, saying: ‘In these circumstances we have to commit this to the Crown Court.
‘Based on case law, the starting point is nine months even with a guilty plea… An immediate custodial sentence is highly likely.’
BA said: ‘We have very strict rules about alcohol consumption ahead of a flight and the safety and security of our customers and colleagues is always our top priority.’
‘He has thrown away his career’