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Recently, in a chat with NowThis, musician Joe Jonas told the story of when he entered the ‘mile high club’, and had an awkward encounter with a flight attendant immediately afterwards. He said, “I joined the mile high club a couple years ago. I was wearing contacts, left the bathroom. I thought I was high-fiving my drummer — it was the flight attendant. It was a private flight, or I would be banned from flying.” His comments coincided with a social media post shared by Cierra Misst, a former flight attendant, who dished details about having joined the ‘mile high club’ herself. In her video, she said that she has had sex with nearly 90 people, including pilots, during flights. Now, YouTuber Gaurav Taneja has reacted to her claims in a video posted on his channel. He said that he has witnessed romantic relationships between cabin crew and pilots, and that certain ‘bad apples’ shouldn’t ruin the reputation of an entire industry.
In her video, Cierra said, “Here’s how pilots and flight attendants join the mile high club while they’re on the clock and you’re in the passenger seats. So, there’s at least two pilots in the flight deck, and there has to be at least two people in the flight deck at all times on the flight. If a pilot is hungry or has to pee, he has to come out of the flight deck, but a flight attendant has to go in there to replace him. Passengers have absolutely no idea what is going down in that flight deck. The plane is on autopilot.” She also listed the three ‘rules’ that anybody who wants to have fun while airborne should keep in mind. “No. 1, make sure you work with a crew that you can trust, [who] also know your plan. No. 2, you pick a flight that you know has a route that’s normally a smooth ride. Once you have those two things, the third one is super easy. Have one pilot come out and one flight attendant go in.”
In his video, Gaurav said, “Please view this incident in isolation. There are always a few bad apples who ruin the reputation of everybody else. You will find such people in every corporate sector… I’ve been a captain for a decade, so let me share some details about the procedures with you. When the aircraft is on the runway and the pilots put it in full throttle, until the landing gear is pulled up, the cockpit is in a ‘no-contact period’. This is when the pilots cannot be disturbed in any circumstances, even if a passenger has a heart attack. After the landing gear is pulled up and until the flight hits an altitude of 10,000 feet, the pilots can be contacted only in emergency scenarios. It is only after the flight crosses the 10,000 feet altitude and the pilots switch of the fasten seatbelt sign that flight attendants can enter the cockpit. But there is a procedure for this, as well.”
He said that such instances are rare on short flights, because everybody is very busy with their duties. They could be more common on long-haul flights, when the aircraft is on autopilot for long durations. Gaurav said that the procedure dictates that a pilot cannot be left alone in the cockpit when one of them has to use the washroom. In such a scenario, one flight attendant sits down on the empty cockpit chair until the pilot returns. This is done to prevent a scenario where the only remaining pilot is unable to function for some reason; the cockpit shouldn’t be entirely empty.
In his experience as a captain, Gaurav admitted that he has witnessed romantic relationships between flight crew and pilots. “But very often, stewardesses have made sexual harassment complaints against the pilots, and things haven’t ended well for them because rules in our country are very strict,” he said.
“Now, let me tell you a story from my experiences. You won’t hear about these stories in the media. Remember, these are made-up stories,” he said, perhaps in an attempt to have deniability in case an airline goes after him. He continued, “A lot of my friends were working at an airline that closed down operations. When this happens, other airlines absorb the pilots. This was a very reputable airline that also used to have international routes. Certain Bollywood celebrities would always fly with this airline, and they’d have the same pilot fly them. They’d become friendly with him. During the flight, these actors would enter the cockpit, because they were heavy smokers. The pilot would switch off the cockpit fans, which are separate from the rest of the flight’s circulation, and the actors would smoke. Anybody who has worked in the aviation industry for a few decades would know exactly who I’m talking about, but remember, this is a made-up story.”
In conclusion, Gaurav said that this practice is more common in the West. “India hasn’t adopted Western culture to such a degree yet, and we should be thankful for it,” he said, adding, “Indians are better at separating their personal and professional lives. Romantic relationships can happen in any field, but it’s always better to keep them separate from work.” He said that these situations can cause distractions, which can lead to an unsafe flying environment for passengers.
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