Air traffic controller who had sex with a married woman while instructing pilots KEEPS his licence

An air traffic controller who had sex with a married woman while on duty and instructing pilots has kept his licence after a New Zealand judge ruled it ‘wasn’t too risky’.

The man’s Air Traffic Control Licence had previously been revoked by the director of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after it was alleged he had been handcuffed to his chair whilst having sex with the woman. 

But the decision was appealed and a New Zealand judge ruled that the air traffic controller, who remains anonymous due to strict court orders, should keep his licence.

The decision comes despite the man’s lover telling the hearing in Wellington that she had performed a sex act on the traffic controller while he was handcuffed to a chair in the control room.

Judge Chris Tuohy found that while the man, who was also married, had sex with the woman on duty, his behaviour was ‘not as risky’ as the director of CAA believed because there was not enough evidence to prove he had been handcuffed, reports the New Zealand Herald.

The case came to light after the traffic controller’s lover called his wife and told her about the affair and how they had sex in the airport’s control tower. 

An air traffic controller who had sex with a married woman while on duty and instructing pilots has kept his licence after a New Zealand judge ruled it ‘wasn’t too risky’ (file image)

 The location of the airport where the couple had sex cannot be identified due to court orders. 

The man began his affair with the married woman in 2017 after they met on a dating website. The couple met to have sex in hotels. 

The relationship ended, and the woman later texted the man’s wife to tell her of the affair. The air traffic controller’s wife then left him.

The woman, who has not been named due to court orders, later called the man’s wife again and told her how the pair had sex in the airport’s control tower. She also said she had performed a sex act on the traffic controller while he was handcuffed to a chair in the control room.

The CAA was told of the allegations and launched an investigation before later revoking the man’s licence in 2019.

The woman had told an investigator that she did have sex with the air traffic controller, and also repeated her claims about handcuffing him to the chair.  

The traffic controller in February 2019 admitted to having the affair and said he had been in the control tower with the woman on three occasions over two days but denied the couple had sex.

‘He acknowledged that [a sex act] while he was in handcuffs had occurred during the sexual relationship but in a hotel room, not in the control tower,’ the hearing heard.

The man’s Air Traffic Control Licence had previously been revoked by the director of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after it was alleged he had been handcuffed to his chair whilst having sex with the woman (file image) 

The man also claimed the woman he was having an affair with was trying to blackmail him by threatening to ruin his life if he did not pay her $50,000.

The CAA director revoked the man’s licence in 2019 after he ‘categorised [the man’s] behaviour as highly irresponsible, intolerable and demonstrating extremely poor judgement,’ the court heard.

Judge Tuohy said the woman’s allegation the pair had sex in the control tower whilst the man was on duty was plausible but said there was not enough evidence to prove he had been handcuffed during a sex act.    

The judge said: ‘The appellant voluntarily engaged in distracting behaviour which must have impinged on his capacity to react but, in my judgment, it is not sufficiently proven that he engaged in the even more risky and irresponsible behaviour of allowing himself to be physically prevented from doing so.’

Judge Tuohy ruled it had not been found the man was not a fit and proper person to hold an air traffic control licence and reversed the CAA director’s decision to revoke the license. 

‘I have reached that conclusion despite my finding that he did undertake risky behaviour while on duty, although not quite as risky as that which the Director relied upon,’ Judge Tuohy said.