Sydney, Aug 15: Cathay Pacific is said to be reviewing its slogan “the team who go the extra mile to make you feel special” after two of its crewmembers were snapped having oral sex inside the cockpit of a plane.

Teox wrote:Horrible situation to be in, where a man is guilty for his families brothers crimes.

would you feel comfortable being on a plane where the pilots brother had been arrested for terrorist links?

He can be identified for the first time today as Surrey-born Samir Jamaluddin.

The 39-year-old is suing the airline for racial and religious discrimination after losing his job.

He was judged a security risk after his arrest by Scotland Yard counter-terrorism detectives in 2007, and the airline decided it was in the national interest to ensure he never flew again.

He was eventually dismissed three years later.

The pilot was unmasked when employment tribunal reporting restrictions were lifted on Friday after 12 days of highly charged evidence, allowing the case’s extraordinary circumstances to be revealed for the first time.

During the case – described as unique and unprecedented – the tribunal heard that BA became increasingly ‘frustrated’ at the previous Labour Government’s failure to act over the issue.

In private, the security services and the Department for Transport’s security arm, Transec, backed the airline’s decision to prevent Mr Jamaluddin from flying.

But they failed to pursue the matter or support BA officially, even after BA’s former chief executive, Willie Walsh, raised the matter with then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

The tribunal heard that at a briefing attended by MI5, MI6 and senior police officers in October 2007, BA was warned that two businessmen wanted to fly a ‘747 by Christmas 2007’ and had paid for lessons upfront in cash.

Both had been having up to four lessons a day, which the tribunal was told was ‘extremely unusual’.

But BA believed they would have had time to learn only to ‘steer a 747 mid-flight, not take off or land’.

The two men were arrested along with Mr Jamaluddin later the same month, after his close links to them were uncovered by police.

None of the arrests resulted in convictions, but after conducting two inquiries the airline concluded Mr Jamaluddin was in a ‘position to cause considerable harm’ and should not fly again.

The pilot, a practising Muslim of Indian descent, believes the decision to end his ten-year career was unfair and taken against a background of post-September 11 paranoia and prejudice.

In the event, Mr Jamaluddin was arrested over money-laundering offences connected to the alleged terror plot and, much to BA’s relief, the news never became public.

The pilot’s brother, Yakoob Jamaluddin, an active member of the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, was questioned over the same offences but never charged.

Mr Steeds first became aware of the alleged plot on October 9, 2007, when he was briefed under the Official Secrets Act.

He was told how two men – Adam Mohamed, 32, of Chessington, Surrey, and Imad Shoubaki, 35, of Merton, South London – had ‘sought flying lessons in order to achieve a private pilot’s licence as quickly as possible’.

Mr Steeds said police ‘disrupted that activity’ because of fears about what they might be planning.

BA documents relating to 747 aircraft were discovered in Mr Shoubaki’s home after his arrest.

Mr Steeds said he was told at the briefing that ‘information suggested these documents had been passed at a dinner party in Chessington. I was asked for details of BA pilots who might live in that area’.

The airline came up with Mr Jamaluddin. Not only did he live a mile away, he had also been the subject of an informal inquiry a year earlier after allegedly expressing support for the September 11 attacks while on a flight deck – a claim he denies.

Police then established the first of several links between Mr Jamaluddin and the two men. The first was that his brother Yakoob was in business with Mr Mohamed.

The pilot and his brother were arrested on October 23. Mr Steeds said police told him it ‘seemed as if Samir had been expecting to be arrested’ as they found the name and number of a prominent human rights lawyer who specialises in race discrimination issues punched into his mobile phone.

‘They also informed me that copies of the flight documents previously shown to BA had been found in Samir’s flight bag.’

He added: ‘I considered it was too much of a coincidence that Samir had documents in his possession which were the same as those found in Mr Shoubaki’s possession, given the links.’

Police did not find Mr Jamaluddin’s fingerprints on the papers and, despite the airline’s suspicions, it was never proved that the pilot was the source.

But it also transpired that the pilot and his brother were co- signatories on a safety deposit box next to a box rented by the father of Mr Mohamed.

It was found to contain a large amount of cash and records showed both boxes had been opened at the same time.

Mr Steeds said he was equally ‘troubled’ by a cheque stub found at Mr Jamaluddin’s house recording a payment of £10,000 to Mr Mohamed.

The pilot claimed it was a payment for the rent of a flat, but BA did not find the explanation convincing.

Mr Steeds said it was also suspicious that Mr Jamaluddin applied to join pilots’ union Balpa only after Mr Shoubaki and Mr Mohamed were arrested.

Again, he said it suggested that Mr Jamaluddin was quite possibly expecting to be caught up in the terror investigation and ‘might need representation’.

HomerJay wrote:

Sydney, Aug 15: Cathay Pacific is said to be reviewing its slogan “the team who go the extra mile to make you feel special” after two of its crewmembers were snapped having oral sex inside the cockpit of a plane.

DougC wrote:Terible, almost like being blown up ...