An easyJet pilot has been convicted for flying after taking ecstasy
A tapped phone conversation led to his arrest
We all know taking ecstasy makes you feel high, but it doesn't actually elevate you to literal heights. Unless you're a pilot for easyJet, that is.
A French pilot for the British airline has been handed a 12-month suspended sentence after it was found he flew a plane while suffering from the after-effects of taking a third of a pill.
A tapped phone conversation led to his arrest, with him telling a member of a Parisian drug ring that he had struggled to land a plane at Orly airport in Paris earlier this year.
According to the Telegraph, the 49-year-old was recorded saying: “I had the sweats, I wasn’t feeling well. I was just doing any old thing as we came in for landing."
Said to be suffering from an addiction, the court case's prosecutor stated, the man admitted to have been taking substances, also including cocaine and cannabis, for around 18 months in the French capital.
His night on a fraction of a pinger has also led him to being banned from flying.
An easyJet statement read: "The safety of passengers and the crew of EasyJet is our number one priority and we have a zero tolerance approach to drugs and alcohol.
"As a first officer he would always have flown under the command of an experienced easyJet Captain and had any Captain he flew with seen behaviour suggesting drug use or any other safety breaches on this pilot's flights we would have taken immediate action and stood the first officer down from duty."
This is the second time an airline has made headlines in the last week, after it was reported that a Ryanair flight from Ibiza was forced to plunge 100 metres due to a storm.
Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter