Pilot Spotted With Beer in the Cockpit

Image: PHOTO: Stella Artois, beer. (photo via Flickr/rob_rob2001)
Image: PHOTO: Stella Artois, beer. (photo via Flickr/rob_rob2001)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 2:30 PM ET, Wed September 20, 2017

A Jet2 passenger was shocked to find a can of beer inside the cockpit on a recent flight from Alicante, Spain to Birmingham, England.

Steve Lewis took a picture of what appeared to be a can of Stella Artois sitting next to one of the pilots while the cockpit door was open.

"The plane had landed and the seatbelt light came off. I stood up to get my suitcase and as I did the cockpit door opened and I noticed the can in the cockpit," Lewis told the Metro. "I turned to my partner Steven, who didn't believe me at first, but then he noticed you could clearly see the Stella branding."

"I was so shocked, I couldn't understand why there was alcohol in the cockpit."

Lewis said the can had a napkin underneath as if it was being served.

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"I'm a bit skeptical to whether it was there because someone had left it," he added. "It concerns me that alcohol is even allowed in the cockpit if it was open or not."

Lewis said he reached out to the British low-cost airline and was originally told the picture wasn't taken on a Jet2 flight.

"I felt like I was being accused of lying," he told the Metro. "This is what upset me the most, I explained to her that I could prove it was taken on the Alicante to Birmingham flight and she replied to say that the can had been given to the pilot for safe keeping."

Jet2 confirmed the second explanation in a statement to the Metro.

"Upon further investigation of the photograph, we can confirm that it is an unopened can which had been handed to a member of our cabin crew by a customer when they were leaving the aircraft," an airline spokesperson said.

"This unopened can was then put down in the cockpit by the member of cabin crew so that she could continue helping customers as they disembarked."

Lewis is seeking an admission from Jet2 that it was wrong to have alcohol on the flight deck under any circumstances.

[READMORE]READ MORE: Airport Worker Busted Attempting to Scam Free Flight[/READMORE]

Jet2 was also recently called out by hundreds of frustrated passengers who were forced to spend the night inside Spain's Fuerteventura Airport after a runway closure forced the airport to close.

The airline confirmed that it was unable to secure accommodations and apologized to affected travelers.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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