Pilot Grounded for Offering Female FA as Prize to Make Up for Delayed Flight

A Lion Air co-pilot has been suspended after jokingly implying to passengers that sexual favors from a recently divorced crew member would be offered as compensation for a delayed departure.

A first officer’s risqué announcement to delayed passengers has landed him in hot water with the Indonesian airline that employs him after passengers complained to regulators. Lion Airways officials confirm that the aviator was suspended after allegedly joking that he was “offering a female divorced flight attendant to passengers to make up for the delay.”

“The co-pilot has been grounded and banned from flying,” Lion Air spokesperson Edward Sirait told the Daily Mail. Sirait says the airline is conducting an internal investigation into the incident.

The allegations came to light after at least one passenger complained about the November 14 flight to Indonesian transportation officials. Passengers also complained that the pilot later used the PA system to loudly wish another crew member happy birthday and moaning sounds could be heard coming from the flight deck. The pilot’s odd behavior led some passengers to speculate that the co-pilot may have been drinking.

“It was not funny at all, it was dangerous,” Lambertus Maengkom, one of the passengers on the flight who filed a complaint told the Daily Mail.

While Sirait agreed that the crew member’s behavior was inappropriate, he insisted that the pilot was not intoxicated during the flight. Airline officials also dismissed the notion that passengers heard noises that indicated any sort of illicit behavior in the cockpit.

“The co-pilot sounded like he was panting, that’s how he normally talks,” Sirait said. “The microphone was too close to his lips so when he breathed or talked, it sounded like moaning.”

[Photo: Getty]