The BA pilot who was hauled out of his cockpit by police and found to be four times over the limit of alcohol for flying has been jailed for nine months.

Julian Monaghan, 49, was due to be the third pilot on the BA Boeing 777 8.00pm flight from Gatwick to Mauritius on January 8 but was arrested after a flight technician became concerned that he could smell alcohol on his breath. In 2015 and 2017 pilots over the limit were jailed for similar periods.

A black humour Daily Mail cartoon at the time of Monaghan’s arrest showed a British Airways jet that had landed on snow with polar bears and penguins around, and the drunken pilot announcing “Welcome to sunny Barbadosh….hic!….and thank you for flying with British Airwaysh”.

Of course for the 300 passengers on that January 8 BA flight it could have been anything but funny…