A Top RAF pilot took two "attractive" young women out in his helicopter to impress them, a court martial heard yesterday. Flight Lieutenant Mark Dennis, 45, who has flown Sea King search and rescue helicopters for 14 years, took the pair on a low-level flight over the mountains of Snowdon National Park.
He did not have authorisation to take the passengers with him for a sortie described as a "jolly", the RAF court martial at Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth was told.
Flight Lieutenant Jim Morris, prosecuting, said Dennis had been referred to as "one of the top Sea King pilots in the country".
On Bank Holiday Monday, May 30, his friend Suzy Goodson visited him at RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey.
Dennis took Miss Goodson and Lee Scott, respectively members of mountain rescue teams in Exmoor, Devon, and Holyhead, on Anglesey, up in a Sea King for a training flight.
Dennis claimed he believed at the time he was allowed to authorise the women to join the flight himself, but accepted he was wrong.
Dennis earlier admitted two counts of disobeying RAF orders by failing to get authorisation for the two women.
The board yesterday found him guilty of making a false entry on his post-flight authorisation sheet .
The board gave him a reprimand, one of the lowest punishments available.
Western Daily Press