Cockpit Attraction:

July 23/2013: Pilots also are males unless it is a woman pilot. Flying a massive aircraft for hours together takes its toll not only on the body but on the soul too, probably. Once the soul is fragmented, the resultant damage may show up on various fronts that could disturb the equanimity of a common human being. Let us forget the jealousy factor for a simple moment. Jealousy destroys mankind. Therefore, flying hours should be viewed as parts of lives that are, in reality, lived above ground. Anything mid air could be condoned as being silly and frivolous.

I remember reading a book long many years ago. It was titled ‘Coffee, Tea or Me’ supposedly written by Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones, two airline stewardesses who were the book’s main characters also. Written by an anonymous male writer, this book gave the inside stories of hot and steamy happy-nings in the world of wings. The glamour attached to flying has always attracted the young as well as the nubile for decades. Anyone, married or unmarried, always feels free and uninhibited once airborne. More so with pilots and air hostesses. The attraction of the uniform adds spice to the total scene. Maybe that is why, in August 2011, a pilot and a flight attendant were sacked by Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong based airline simply because they were caught on camera having oral sex in the cockpit. Celebrities like Ralph Fiennes could tell us wonderful stories. For instance, in 2007, it is said he was on a QANTAS flight when the stewardess decided to explain details of the frequent flyer program by having unprotected sex with him in the bathroom. Possibly expecting such activities more frequently, today’s aircraft manufacturers have made the toilets larger in newer jets. In 2008 a video was released showing a French air hostess doing a strip tease for the Pilot of her flight.. It was titled Prepare for Take it Off.

Back home, both the Commander and the Co Pilot of an Air India flight from Bangkok to Delhi vacated the cockpit keeping 2 female flight attendants and took a long nap in the Business Class seats. The airline gave various explanations to cover up a goof when one of the girls mistakenly switched off the Auto Pilot. The official statement by Air India admitted that the flight, with more then 150 passengers, was noticed going astray because of ‘distraction’ to the Co Pilot. One may wonder where the Commander had vanished and what kind of ‘distraction’ disturbed the junior Pilot to commit such a serious folly.

To add to this hot and saucy scenario came the story of a Kannada/Malayalam actress Ms.Nithya Menon entering the cockpit of an Air India Bangalore to Hyderabad flight. It is said this young attractive 25 year old actress was invited to sit in the cockpit for the whole duration of the flight by Pilots Jagan M Reddy and Co Pilot S Kiran. Although both these Pilots have been, in the meanwhile, suspended from duties let no one forget the fun and good times that go hand in hand with the bumps and grinds that take place during badly good weather.

We the fools, sitting outside locked doors are asked to remain strapped up to our seats throughout the flight for our own security and well being. We are also asked to switch off our mobile phones and every other electronic gadget while the men and women in the cockpit frequently use their phones while landing and take off too. Lucky their blessed lives!