They flew from the US to Oran with stops in Iceland and England. This reminds me of a story told in a memoir of an World War II C-47 radio operator. The return flight from Malaga was reportedly made in virtual silence, with Akers reading a newspaper.īoth men filed complaints against the other with their employer budget airline Flybe and were sacked following an investigation. In the argument that followed, Akers allegedly said Bird was a "control freak" and told him to "f*ck off."Īccording to senior pilot Stan Wood, who investigated the incident, the "massive breakdown" between the two men - who had been "yelling at each other" in the cockpit - had posed a "potential risk to safety" of the crew and passengers. Akers asked Bird to fly around some dark clouds for safety reasons - advice which the captain ignored. The atmosphere took a turn for the worse when the aircraft later encountered turbulence. Just before the plane took off, Bird told his co-pilot that he had not completed pre-flight paperwork "cos you're my bitch," The (London) Times reported.
The incident occurred when Captain Stephen Bird and First Officer Stephen Akers, both aged in their fifties, were flying from Exeter, southwest England, to the Spanish city of Malaga, last May, an employment tribunal heard yesterday. Two experienced airline pilots were sacked after having a furious row on board a plane when they encountered turbulence.
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