'Drunk and stoned' Qantas pilot loses bid to fly again

A Qantas pilot sacked after groping a female co-worker's breast while he was drunk and stoned on an overseas stopover has lost a bid to have his dismissal reviewed. The industrial umpire has rejected the pilot's claim that his beer had been spiked with an illicit drug at a pub in Santiago, Chile, before he sexually harassed his co-pilot. Stephen Gregory – a first officer Boeing 747 pilot of nearly 20 years' experience – was sacked for the serious misconduct in February 2014. One evening on the two-day stopover in Santiago, the crew had shared a bottle of rum in Gregory's hotel, before moving on to an Irish pub in the city's nightlife district of Bellavista. Gregory briefly separated from his colleagues while they were at the pub and returned about 30 minutes later. While in a taxi heading back to the hotel, Mr Gregory held and massaged the female co-pilot's breast as she tried to evade his reach, the Fair Work Commission heard. Cannabis was identified in his system in a urine test back in Australia, and the airline sacked him with five weeks' pay. Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge last year ruled that, despite having an unblemished work record,Gregory's claim to be an innocent victim of drink spiking was implausible. The tribunal on Tuesday upheld the commissioner's earlier ruling, and refused Gregory permission to appeal.<br/>