BA faces lawsuit over pilot's behaviour

[sharksandwich]

First Officer kills himself, leaving BA to face potential damages claim over failure to protect victims:Pilot abused his position at British Airways to molest hundreds of girls at African orphanages while claiming he was doing charity work | Mail Online

[Capetonian]

A sad and sordid story, but I question how the man's employer can be held responsible for his actions when he was off duty, even if he was wearing their uniform.

[BOAC]

If it can be shown that BA knew of the previous arrest and investigation in 2000 - it is not clear from the article-

"Wood was arrested over the sex attack, but – in an echo of the Jimmy Savile scandal – the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge him. He was allowed to keep his job at BA and, in an indictment of the vetting system, continued his charity work with children."

then I think the lawyers may justifiably ask BA why they allowed him to continue this work in Africa,.

[Pontius]

the Crown Prosecution Service ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge him

If the CPS deems no case to answer then who are BA to second-guess the alleged (mis)activities of its personnel?

In this case it looks as if the CPS could have possibly garnered more evidence and, in that case, I'm sure BA would have almost certainly taken action.

I realise it is not necessarily the case here but if I'd been accused of something of which I was innocent and my employer decided to take action based on unsubstantiated evidence then I'd be more than a tad miffed.

The fact that Simon (as an FO) was allegedly wearing a 'bogus' captain's uniform does nothing to make his visits official nor sanctioned by BA. If this part of the story is true then it is fairly clear that he was trying to impress by the use of a uniform and, possibly, add some credibility to his visits (though clearly not the reason for them).

Like Capetonia, I find this story sad and sordid but I can see no reason why BA should become culpable when his visits to the hospitals etc were neither official, nor sanctioned by BA, where he posed (allegedly) in a 'bogus' uniform and where previous investigations had found no wrong doing in his behaviour i.e. nothing that would prevent BA treating his monthly bid just as they treat the monthly bids of all other FOs. He was an innocent (as far as the CPS and, therefore, BA were concerned) employee and was thus treated as such.

[Yellow Pen]

I'm sure BA will justifiably reply that with no evidence against the individual, no convictions against him and a clean criminal record they were in no position to control what he did in his spare time.

[cwatters]

You clearly can't control what someone does in their spare time but you can certainly write to someone pointing out that this person does not represent your company if you suspected that might be what he's doing. Was he paying for his own flights or was the airline giving him flights (over whatever he was entitled to in his contract) because he was doing charity work?

[overstress]

cwatters, if you think about it you will realise the answer as to how an airline pilot got to repeatedly visit the same destination... (the clue is in his job title)

[wiggy]

cwatters

was the airline giving him flights (over whatever he was entitled to in his contract) because he was doing charity work?

At many airlines many crewmembers ( both sexes, both sides of the Flight Deck door) indulge in some form of humanitarian "work", maybe only for an hour or two, when downroute on a slip..

[cwatters]

cwatters, if you think about it you will realise the answer as to how an airline pilot got to repeatedly visit the same destination... (the clue is in his job title)

Well obviously but I suspect the laywers will be looking for any flights he was given to allow him to do his "charitable work" rather than routine working flights.

[superq7]

First officer on £100,000 a year wow BA do pay well.

[737-NG]

Well...

54, flying long haul as an FO for 15 years... Sounds like somebody should have been working on his command upgrade instead of devoting his time to such despicable acts.

[sudden twang]

737-NG,
I doubt that you have all of the facts to make a judgement about his guilt or command development.

[BOAC]

A little BA insight for some:

You cannot "work on your command upgrade" in an airline like BA. If you wish to remain on a particular fleet it comes when the numbers crunch and only then.

To achieve command at 15 years would require a fleet change, and it must be abundantly obvious why shorthaul would not have appealed.

For the Daily Wail, all BA pilots earn at least £100,000

In my time, the longhaul fleets had their fair share of RHS 'sitters'; who preferred a senior position and accompanying life style with little responsibility to having to work for a living.

[blind pew]

Boac ...senior position without having to work for a living...
Surely not only in the rhs ...but in the office as well..

[Heathrow Harry]

BA would have been on aiding to nothing if they'd acted after "there is no case to answer"

However it should not have been beyond their wit to transfer him to a ground job in Riyadh, the USA or in the UK or at least make sure he was doing routine flights to somewhere like Helsinki or New York where the natives are less impressed by a BA uniform

personally one of the biggest and most upsetting thing in my life is just how many of these people there are - I'd always thought it was the ultra- crazy who saw paedophiles everywhere - but they ARE everywhere......

[JW411]

Amen to that; I have already commented on being disappointed in the past by the conduct of a fellow captain so I won't go down that particular road again.

It is just a shame that our religious leaders aren't paid £100,000 p.a.

Otherwise they would not need to aspire to becoming BA pilots.

Personally, I feel deeply sorry for the driver of the train that he threw himself under. He/she will never be the same again but then, why would our man worry about that?

[sharksandwich]

A bit more info from the Telegraph:Pilot 'abused position to molest African orphans' - Telegraph

[737-NG]

Thanks BOAC for this insight. Makes things more understandable

Well, to sudden twang I guess it comes down to more or less the same thing;
He stayed on the same fleet to keep going to the same destinations, instead of upgrading to Captain and switching to short haul (If it's anything like Air France,it could have been 10 years before he went from short haul capt to long haul capt.)
He kills himself because he doesn't want to face his guilt and accusations.

I might be wrong, and this is just speculation, but there is no smoke without fire s they say.

Another proof that pilot are just ''normal, average'' people, with the good, the bad and the worse. Nothing like what you thought of them as a youngster looking at their uniforms and epaulets with admiration.

[McGoonagall]

Personally, I feel deeply sorry for the driver of the train that he threw himself under. He/she will never be the same again but then, why would our man worry about that?

Driver is OK, one of ours. The chap was considerate enough to be very discreet about his actions. Our man was unaware he had chopped him until the following train found him. Not nice for either driver but it comes with the territory.

[Capetonian]

A friend of mine was a train driver. He had two 'jumpers', as they call them, during his year or so in the job. He was counselled for a month before returning to work after the first and laid off after the second. He is still suffering from the effects, some 5 years later, and it has changed his life for the worst. He will never be the same again.