Cathay Pacific pilot arrested at Heathrow for 'possession of knives'

[umbertino]

The incident comes less than four weeks after the Germanwings French Alps plane disaster in which 150 lives were lost

 

 

By Agency

9:45AM BST 20 Apr 2015

 

 

Cathay Pacific Photo: ALAMY

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/11549221/Airline-pilot-arrested-at-Heathrow-for-possession-of-knives.html

 

By Agency9:45AM BST 20 Apr 2015

 

An airline pilot due to fly more than 250 passengers from London to Hong Kong has been arrested at Heathrow for alleged possession of knives.

 

The Cathay Pacific pilot, believed to be 61, was taken into custody around an hour before his Boeing 777 was due to take off on Saturday evening.

 

He was later released from a local police station on bail, to return there next month.

 

With no relief crew available, the passengers had to wait until Sunday to get away.

 

The incident comes less than four weeks after the Germanwings French Alps plane disaster in which cockpit voice recorder evidence suggests the co-pilot deliberately crashed the Airbus A320 with the loss of 150 lives.

 

On the Heathrow incident, a Met Police spokesman said: "On Saturday at around 9.10pm police at Heathrow Airport were called to a staff search area after a search of a member of flight crew, for a flight later that night, found them in possession of some knives.

 

"Officers attended and subsequently the member of flight crew, a man, was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and possession of a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place.

 

"He was taken into custody at a local police station where he was later bailed to return to in mid May pending further inquiries. The CID at Heathrow Airport is investigating."

 

A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said: "We will continue to co-operate with the authorities throughout the investigation.

 

"We apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused to the 262 passengers booked on CX254. The airline assisted passengers with overnight accommodation and alternative flight arrangements.

 

"CX254 later departed Heathrow at 2.47pm yesterday and arrived in Hong Kong this morning at 9.31am local time.

 

"The incident happened on the ground. As the incident is subject to police investigation, we are unable to provide further information."

[Saint]

This is certainly getting out of hand.

[umbertino]

Umbertino's note : I don't know who edited ( adding whole article) my post. It doesn't say who did it... I understand it was done with best intention so in this sense it's appreciated but I'd like to let you know the reason that I do not post ( as it's been noticed in the last months or even 1 yr now) "Daily Telegraph" articles anymore in their entirety ( unlike "TheGuardian" articles which I still do) is simply because Mr Montana  informed  me  months ago that the Telegraph had complained about me reporting whole articles until then and they didn't want me to do that anymore... They said to him ( and he reported that to me) it's ok to post header , pics and link but evidently they want readers to go straight to site through link... I just wanted to  explain this thing

 

 This instead doesn't ( yet) apply to  the Guardian articles that I keep posting in their entirety

 

 

Again I do understand the whole adding of article  was done with good intention and I do appreciate it... Many are not aware of this DT issue

 

Ciao e Grazie