Hong Kong - A senior Cathay Pacific pilot sacked for swooping over a runway at less than 10 metres in a new Boeing 777 has lost an appeal against his dismissal, the airline said Thursday. Ian Wilkinson was sacked in February, days after performing the 500-kilometre-per-hour fly-by on the plane's maiden flight out of Seattle as company chairman Chris Pratt sat in a jump seat on the flight deck.
Cathay Pacific's director of engineering, Christopher Gibbs, was also in a jump seat behind the captain while two first officers were standing unharnessed inside the flight deck at the time of the January 31 incident.
The pilot circled after take-off, then swooped just 8.5 metres over the runway at Boeing's Seattle airport.
Wilkinson, 55, one of Cathay Pacific's most senior pilots, took part in a champagne toast when the 777-300ER touched down in Hong Kong and was pictured in the company's in-house magazine, CX World.
But the 777 fleet captain was sacked when an investigation was launched into the stunt and as video film of the manoeuvre in the 200-million-US-dollar aircraft was circulated on websites, including YouTube.
Neither Pratt nor Gibbs complained about Wilkinson's manoeuvre, which was only called into question when Hong Kong-based airline officials saw pictures of the stunt circulating five days later.
Wilkinson's dismissal was privately criticized by many of his colleagues within Cathay Pacific who said fly-bys were an old school tradition for maiden flights and that the presence of Pratt and Gibbs appeared to endorse the manoeuvre.
However, the airline insisted that any manoeuvre had to be approved in advance by the airline and the two executives would have had no way of knowing that the fly-by was unauthorized.
Wilkinson appealed his dismissal and attended a hearing chaired by Cathay Pacific director of flight operations Nick Rhodes on April 10, a Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said. He was informed Tuesday that his appeal had failed, she said.
"There is one further level of appeal open to him, which will be heard by either the chief executive or the chief operating officer," she said. "The timing of [this hearing] will have to be agreed by both parties."
Supporters of Wilkinson said they were disappointed at the outcome and had hoped he would be reinstated to a non-flying, managerial position within the company because of his long and distinguished record.
However, other pilots said they believe Wilkinson has only himself to blame.
"He thought he was fireproof and he was showing off, and that kind of behavior is inexcusable in our line of work," one of them said.
