Originally Posted by
parkfell
Capt Keys(?)was a senior captain (ex WW2?)had a full blown argument with a younger pilot in the crew room who was prepared to take him on about whether strike action should occur.
The heated argument clearly raised his blood pressure etc as he was probably not use to young whipper snapper’s expressing their views equally forcefully. Witnessed by his crew that day which set the tone.
Absolutely. Key had a notorious reputation in BEA as a dictatorial leader easily prone to anger. The argument he had in the briefing room with the First Officer (who was not part of the operating crew that day) was described by witnesses as “the most violent argument they’d ever observed”. Key’s two junior pilots onboard, who were aged just 24 and 22, observed this, and given Key’s reputation were probably too frightened to operate as effective crew lest they be on the receiving end of one of Key’s outbursts.