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April 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Captain Stephen Bird and First Officer Stephen Akers hadn’t even got off the ground when an argument started
- Before landing in Malaga Mr Akers referred to Captain Bird as a ‘control freak’ and told him to ‘f*** off’
- Return flight was made in virtual silence and Mr Akers refused to shake Captain Bird’s hand when they landed
- Mr Akers is accused of ‘storming off the plane’ when it landed at Exeter
By
Mark Duell and Tom Goodenough
08:37 EST, 19 April 2012
|
18:16 EST, 19 April 2012
Two experienced airline pilots were sacked after having a furious row on board a plane when they encountered turbulence.
Captain Stephen Bird had referred to senior first officer Stephen Akers as his ‘bitch’ before their jet took off from Exeter to Spain, a tribunal heard.
When they later flew into turbulence, Captain Bird ignored Mr Akers’s request to avoid dark clouds and the argument began, the hearing in Exeter was told yesterday.
Captain Stephen Bird (left) and First Officer Stephen Akers (right) were sacked from FlyBe following an argument in the cockpit of an aeroplane from Exeter to Malaga
Mr Akers allegedly called Captain Bird a ‘control freak’ and told him to ‘**** off’.
An investigation by their airline, Flybe, resulted in the sacking of both men, who are in their 50s and now representing themselves in an unfair dismissal case.
Captain Bird, of Northam, Devon, told the tribunal that banter was common between Flybe pilots, many of whom are ex-military.
Tension between the two men started when Mr Akers, of Exeter, asked the captain if the flight log – recording fuel, weather and destination details – had been finished. Captain Bird replied he had not done it ‘because you’re my bitch’.
The captain said the comment was ‘clearly jovial’ and he did not realise former RAF squadron leader Mr Akers ‘found it offensive’, but he later apologised.When the flight encountered turbulence, Mr Akers urged Captain Bird to avoid dark clouds for safety reasons.
Flybe found there had been a ‘massive breakdown’ between the pilots that could have put passenger safety at risk
But the tribunal heard that the captain decided to go through them because the flight, last May, was already running 25 minutes late.
Mr Akers was said to have become very ‘agitated’ and the captain later said: ‘Sorry, that was worse than I expected.’
The hearing was told Mr Akers wanted to pursue the conversation, but Captain Bird told him to ‘fly the plane’, adding he would be happy to discuss it once they had landed in Malaga.
The captain said Mr Akers then called him a ‘control freak’ and he replied: ‘Wow, now I can see why you have had issues with other captains.’
Captain Bird added that if the co-pilot continued to argue with him he would have no choice but to report the incident to the company, to which Mr Akers allegedly replied: ‘**** off.’
The row lasted several minutes but the plane landed safely.
Mr Akers ‘stormed off the flight deck’ in Malaga, almost hitting the head of a senior member of the cabin crew with the flight deck door, the tribunal was told.
The return flight took place in ‘virtual silence’ with Mr Akers reading a newspaper.
Mr Akers told the tribunal that former Royal Marine Captain Bird never supported him and he was ‘patronised and humiliated’.
He added that he was concerned about the weather on the flight because two weeks earlier his plane had been struck by lightning.
The Captain, who has ten years command experience, said he was aware of Mr Akers’ temper but did not feel the plane should be grounded for the return flight because of a ‘relatively minor altercation’.
The return flight was in ‘virtual silence’ with Mr Akers reading a newspaper and they landed after a ‘perfectly safe and uneventful’ trip.
Once on the ground Captain Bird said
he always shakes the hand of his First Officer, but Mr Akers told him:
‘You owe me a f***ing apology.’
The pair were on a flight from Exeter (pictured) to Malaga when the argument broke out
The
skipper said: ‘I was shocked by his reaction. Stephen Akers called me a
liar and made several offensive remarks about me personally. He stormed
off leaving me to complete the shutdown and secure the aircraft.’
Both pilots phoned their manager, Captain Stan Wood, about the incident and he told them to file an Air Safety Report. They were both sacked.
Since his sacking, Captain Bird has not found any work despite applying to be an estate agent and work at a tile factory. Despite his flying skills, he said his future may be as a handyman.
He said Captain Bird had told him: ‘I am the Captain, just fly the plane.’
The black box cockpit voice recorder was not used in evidence because the row on the way to Spain would have been wiped by the flight on the way back to Devon.
Captain Bird has 1,100 hours flying time and Stephen Akers 2,000 hours, the tribunal was told.
Captain Bird had been on sick leave for seven months and on anti-depressants after a messy divorce, said Mr Akers.
Captain Wood, who led the investigation, said any breakdown in crew relationships caused a ‘potential risk to safety’ of the passengers, crew and plane.
He said there had been a ‘massive breakdown’ between the pilots and his inquiry concluded that both pilots had been ‘yelling at each other’.
Captain Bird and Mr Akers said they had clean disciplinary records.The hearing continues.
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Been a purser fr 20 years and this is alot more common than you think,some pilots hate each other and I work fr alot bigger airline than Flybe !
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“Hardly a reason to sack them, a warning would have been more than enough. Men at war have bigger arguments and then in tve next breath, they are watching each others backs. Bit of a joke, I hope they win. – jk, uk, 19/4/2012 16:35”
Ineffective communication between pilots or flight crew puts lives in the air and on the ground in danger. They’re locked into a small room with each other and don’t have any space to go and ‘cool off’. It seems clear in this case that there was poor to limited communication on safety issues so when he did try to ‘watch the others back’, he was ignored and ridiculed. Multiple air crashes have been caused by poor or ineffective cockpit management or ‘god-like’ / egotistical complexes on the part of the flight pilot. Watch a couple of the air crash investigation programmes and you get a pretty good idea of how disastrous bad communication in the cabin can be.
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Doesn`t the airline do any pschycological checks on its Crew members – before hirering and during their tenure? A crew – where one is on medication and the other has choleric tendancies, should not be in a cockpit in the first place – this constellation caused the biggest non terrorist plane crash in the UK to date – in 1972 a Pilot and Co Pilot had such a furious argument during take off that the Pilot suffered a heart attack 2 minutes into the flight and the plane crashed killing all 118 people on board in Staines Middlesex. – it just goes to show that
people never learn.
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If everyone who had a squabble with a colleague was sacked, the nation would grind to a halt.
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Come on now girls…. Kissy Kissy
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remember the BEA trident crash in Staines 1972. I thought pilots had grown out of stupid ego displays
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Thank goodness these clowns are out of the air. Their temperaments are clearly a safety hazard.
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Irate feelings by flight deck personnel is a hazard to the passengers. Consider it an avian version of road rage and think of the consequences. Last time I heard of this was when a navigator in the Iranian Air force refused to provide information to the pilot on course to steer because the captain would not acknowledge the information. The y did make it back to Tehran but the (English) passenger who saw the interchange made future trips by road.
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They would have been better to agree to keep quiet – being honest has cost them their jobs. A written warning should have been enough. And to make sure they are never allowed to work together again.
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“steady suzie a lot of pilot’s get into a huge debt around £100,000 to pay for their pilot’s licence.” ********************************** I apologise I didn’t know that 🙂
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