Chapter 3
Ashley and Jo were up early the next morning getting ready for their return flight back to Heathrow, when Ash’s phone buzzed with an incoming email from the airline head office
“ Mr Stuart, we have received a customer complaint about the way you present yourself. As soon as you arrive back in the UK please come to the HR suite to see me to discuss where we go from here. The substance of the complaint is that you are over-effeminate in the way you dress, sometimes wearing the female uniform and speaking in quite a feminine tone. The passenger alleges that she was not comfortable with you serving her and you made her feel embarrassed. Please come as you normally present yourself, I wish to see you as you normally look to our valued passengers. If the complaint is upheld either you will have to change your appearance and manner or you will unfortunately be re-assigned to non-public-facing duties or you will be dismissed.
Kay Abernethy,
Director of Human Resources.”
Ashley immediately showed the message to Jo who looked as shocked and disgusted as he felt.
“That’s totally unreasonable Ash, all those people you have served without any problems, and just one bigot could lose you your job, what are you going to do about it?”
“Obviously I do not want to lose this job and will do everything I can to assure HR that I will give no further cause for complaint. However, from the tone of the email this may very well turn out to my last flight. If that is to be the case I want it to be memorable. Unpack your makeup kit, styling wand and spare uniform Jo, and put it in your cabin bag. After we clear security and passport control, I will get changed, you can do my hair and makeup, then Ash is going to be on duty today looking her best.”
The long flight back to the UK was routine and they were kept busy without any problems, until they were on he last leg of the journey not far from the coast of The Netherlands. Suddenly the alarm lamp lit in the crew kitchen where Ash was sorting drinks for some passengers. She answered the intercom warily wondering what the panic was.
“This is the Captain, both myself and my First Officer are feeling unwell, dizzy, confused, and sweating. Without causing any panic please find out if there is anyone on the aircraft with any flying experience, military or civil. We are flying on automatic at the moment but still need to get someone in here to help out urgently during the approach and landing. I am not sure if I can land the plane safely, and have sent out an alarm to Air Traffic Control to make emergency preparations.”
Although Ash as Ashley, had never flown a commercial airliner, the largest being merely twin prop ten-seaters, she decided that this was the moment that she could prove herself capable and get transferred from cabin crew to the flight deck, her long-term dream.
Ash quickly made her way to the flight deck where she found the First Officer slumped in his seat unconscious, and the Captain looking tired and distracted, but still in control, with the aircraft operating on autopilot. Firstly she dragged the co-pilot away from his controls so she could get herself in a position to take over, before telling the Captain that she had a PPL but had never handled anything as large and complex as the A350. He confirmed that he felt unfit to safely handle the aircraft, but that as long as she could master the basics under his instructions he felt able to guide her through the process. However the Captain’s condition deteriorated, sporadically drifting into unconsciousness, and Ash felt that he was not in a reliable state to help her get the aircraft to safety.
She immediately radioed ATC, to put them in the picture.”This is MEA4673, A350 inbound from DXB Dubai heading for LHR London Heathrow . We have an emergency and request clearance for priority landing, The Captain is unwell and the First Officer is completely unconscious, over.”
“Received MEA4673, who is in control, over.”
“Flight attendant Ash Stuart, I have a PPL but have never even been in a cockpit of an aircraft of this size and complexity, over.”
“You are being diverted to Stansted, we cannot risk you flying over central London. We have your location, just clearing the Dutch coast, disable the autopilot and take manual control, divert to a North bearing and circle over the sea, slowly descending to 10000 ft while we clear the Abbott holding stack to allow you a free run in. We will guide you in and will patch in an experienced A350 pilot to instruct you on the controls and how to handle them. Advise the cabin crew what is happening and that they are to carry out emergency procedures, over.”
Ash contacted the senior attendant, Jill, to advise her that she was now at the controls due to problems with the pilots and asked her to check the passenger manifest for anyone that had flying experience.
“Sorry Ash, but there does not seem to be anyone obvious, should I put a request out over the PA?”
“No We don’t want to create a panic. I’ll put a ‘fasten seat belts’ warning over the PA telling the passengers to expect a bit of a bumpy ride due to weather conditions, please organise the cabin crew to carry out all the emergency procedures and checks, collecting any loose items and stowing everything away
While waiting for support from ATC she nervously tried to understand the locations and condition of all the controls, but soon heard back.
“MEA4673, this is Rob Williams at ATC, I have many hours flying an A350 and can almost fly one in my sleep, I’ll get you down safely. You are clear to make an approach, all other traffic is on hold at a high level. The airspace is clear, drop in a spiral to 5000ft to approach the airport from the Northeast. Listen carefully to my instructions and we will hopefully get you down without any problems.”
As Ash had told Jill it would be, it was a bit of a bumpy and wobbly descent and an even bumpier touchdown, but by following the detailed guidance from Rob Williams she had landed and stopped the aircraft without any damage or injuries. Even though she was on an adrenaline high she collapsed back in her seat and almost blacked out from the stress.The aircraft was immediately surrounded by the emergency teams who rushed onto the flight deck to deal with the pilots, and a technical crew to ensure that the aircraft was safely parked, the passengers evacuated and all systems shut down.
Ash was ushered from the aircraft into the terminal, past the ranks of photographers and camera crews who had been alerted to the emergency, to an interview room to be debriefed by CAA incident investigators who praised her for the calm and efficient way she had dealt with the crisis. She was then given a clean uniform and allowed to freshen up before facing the press alongside the airline flight director and Rob Williams who had given her clear instructions as to how to land the aircraft .
It was reported that the flight crew had been drinking from a flask of coffee loaded in Dubai which had been laced with Rohypnol or something similar and it was suggested that this was a terrorist attempt to deliberately crash the aircraft over northern Europe. Ash was highly praised for taking control despite her lack of appropriate training and experience. The flight director rambled on about how the company was extremely grateful to her for landing the passengers safely without any injuries from her slightly erratic flying or any significant damage to the aircraft and a promise was made that her role in the airline operations would be re-evaluated. Ash was then faced with a barrage of questions about her previous experience and how useful that had been in following the instructions from ATC, to which she thanked Rob Williams for his calmness in passing on the benefit of his experience.
When Ash arrived home, Jo was at her door waiting, and welcomed her with a big hug before they went in. “You were amazing today Ash, I shudder to think what would have happened if you had not been there. We had advised the passengers to prepare for an emergency landing but when you bumped us down and stopped the aircraft there was an immediate round of applause and as the passengers left they all asked us to pass on their thanks for whoever had taken control. You probably have not had time to see or hear anything, your photo is splashed on the front page of the evening newspapers and your landing and interview was shown on the early evening tv news bulletins. You are a bit of a heroine.The flight director also gave a lot of praise to the rest of the cabin crew for the way we handled the emergency with the passengers, highlighting the vital role that we play, not just glorified waitresses, you’ve done all us girls a big favour in raising our image.”
“I’ll leave all that to everyone else, I just need to relax and come down from the adrenaline high and prepare myself for the interview tomorrow with the director of HR.”
“How are you going to play that, they can hardly discipline you now?”
“Stay overnight Jo, I’ll need you to help me get ready in the morning. If the airline want to splash my photo over the media and use me as a poster girl to get the publicity, that is exactly what they are going to get. As requested I’ll be going in wearing my uniform, the female version, but in full makeup and with my hair styled, wearing my bra and boobs. I’m not ashamed of the way I have been dressing, in fact I am proud to be seen as one of the girls.”
The next morning , Ash walked up to reception at headquarters to sign in.
“I’m Ashleigh Stuart, I have an appointment with Kay Abernethy.”
“Good morning Miss Stuart, I saw you on TV yesterday, you did an amazing job bringing down the A350 and the passengers safely. I used to be cabin crew myself before I had my family, most of the passengers do not realise how hard we girls have to train, you have done us all proud.”
Ash was shown up to the HR director’s office where she was welcomed with a soft handshake and a big smile.
“You did really well yesterday Ash, this was supposed to be a disciplinary meeting to lecture you on company policy regarding grooming and appearance, but you can forget all that now. In fact if you always present yourself as you are looking this morning I can’t see any problem with you continuing to do so. However you will not be continuing in your role as a flight attendant.”
“What ! You can’t fire me after what I did yesterday, he press will be scathing when they find out, and it will be awful publicity for the company.”
“Just wait Ash, let me continue. As I was saying, you will not be continuing as a flight attendant, your records show that you originally applied for training as a pilot and that is what will happen next.”
“What about my colour-blindness, is that not a problem.”
“That is a company policy, which we have reviewed as unreasonable and unacceptable in terms of Disability Discrimination law. CAA rules do allow you to fly commercial aircraft and passenger airliners, but there may be some restrictions, it’s unlikely that you will get behind the controls of an A350 again flying to Dubai, but you should still be able to get around most of Europe and North Africa. How does that sound for you.”
“Brilliant, it’s what I’ve always wanted, am I allowed to give you a hug?”
“Most unusual Ash, but after yesterday all the rules are out of the window, come here.”
“Thank you ever so much Kay.”
“Finally, one thing to clear up. It was all a bit of a panic and rush yesterday organising the press conference, and nobody realised your true identity, it was just taken for granted that you are a female. Now that your story has been splashed all over the media it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. That begs the question will you be training and flying as Ash or Ashley, neither is a problem for us? If it is going to be as Ash, you have been selected as the poster girl for our next publicity campaign, if it is to be as Ashley we will quietly work to make Ash fade out of the picture and let you resume your life.”
“I had my arm twisted the first time I was talked into wearing a dress, but I am now comfortable living as a woman, I have some amazing friends and relate to other women much better than I ever did to men as Ashley, I’m sure that Ash is here to stay.”
“Welcome to the world of womanhood Ash. I’m sure that you will be a successful pilot and will enjoy your new life, make the most of it and show those men what we women can do. Have some time off, you are due some rest days, give me a week or so to get things sorted then come in to see me again.”
Ash could hardly contain herself waiting for Jo to get back from her return flight to Berlin, and pass on the good news, and left 3 or 4 texts asking Jo to call her.
“What’’s the panic Ash, you know that we are not allowed personal calls when on duty.”
“Get yourself home and put on your glad rags, we are going out celebrating tonight, and if I can get hold of Kathy, Sue ,and Sally, let’s meet at somewhere special like The Waterside at Bray, my treat.”
“What’s up, have you won the Lottery?”
“Even better than that but I’ll not tell you now, I want to make sure that you all come.”
Remembering what Sue had said in Dubai about not wearing the same outfit too often, Ash realised that she needed to go shopping to find something different and glamorous. She rummaged in her wardrobe looking at the things that Jo had bought for her in New York which had been shut away ever since and chose an A-line chino skirt with a jade cotton top which she thought looked smart but not over-dressy for going shopping.
Rather than looking at the local shops Ash drove to the Westfield shopping complex which offered a much larger selection of high-end boutiques and spent most of the afternoon visiting at least a dozen shops trying on various styles and colours before finally selecting a cerise sleeveless halter-neck fitted cocktail dress with a waterfall hemline, matching 4” heels and clutch bag. At last Ash realised the joys of shopping as a woman, but also the difficulties is selecting something appropriate with the right fit, and the need to coordinate the accessories and makeup.
When she eventually returned home it was a last minute rush to finish her preparations and get ready before her taxi arrived, she hadn’t realised how much time it would take to do her makeup hair and get dressed. When her taxi finally arrived at the Waterside she nervously went into the cocktail bar where she found the others to already be there waiting for her.
“OMG Ash, you are looking gorgeous, you’ve obviously had a full day at the shops, that dress is stunning.” Jo had a long look at her before giving her a hug, and whispering “The way that dress fits and shows that you are braless must mean that you have decided that the breasts are now going to be a permanent part of you.”
“That’s it now Jo, I’ll just have to be more careful when I am running or walking fast, they seem to have a life of their own.”
“They must be a bit of a strange feeling for you, for the rest of us girls it is a gradual process and we have time to adjust and get used to them, but you will soon just accept them as just part of being you.”
The other girls were all over Ash, again all making comments about her new breasts, but mainly asking where she had bought her dress and shoes.
“In Dubai you told me that for special occasions a girl always needs a new dress Sue, I took your advice, but didn’t realise how long it would take to find something appropriate.”
“Well, it was certainly worth the effort it really suits you.”
“Right girls, let’s sit down and order some drinks, you must be wondering what I was so excited about and what I need to tell you.”
“If it was any other of my girlfriends I would be waiting for you to say that you were pregnant, but despite how convincing you are looking, there are limits and that is obviously not possible.” Kathy giggled.
“I’ll leave that to you all, thank you very much. Anyway I’m sure that Jo has told you about me being called in to see the HR Director after a complaint from a passenger that one of their male cabin crew looked and sounded over-effeminate, but if that customer could see me now I think she wouldn’t be able to find fault with me.”
“Get on with it Ash, you sound like Hercule Poirot dragging out the story of the murderer, what did she say?”
“Well girls, it seems that I will no longer be working with you as cabin crew,…………I’ll be on the flight deck. After bringing down the aircraft yesterday, they felt that with my PPL I was more than suitable as a basis for training for a commercial licence, which will start in a week or so. The other good thing is that they have accepted me as Ash. I think I’ll probably be the only woman on the training course as this is who I am from now on. To cap it all off, because my photo has been splashed all over the papers and TV, they want to use me as their poster girl for the next publicity campaign, the modelling fees will more than pay for this dress and a few more things for my wardrobe.”
“Wow, I see why you wanted to celebrate, that is wonderful news, fulfilling your lifelong dream, although not quite as you imagined it. I just hope you won’t get full of yourself with airs and graces like a lot of the pilots and forget your friends back in the passenger cabin still acting as trolley-dollies.” Jo was the first one over to give me a hug, soon followed by the others in an excited huddle, causing quite a stir in the cocktail lounge with other customers wondering what was going on.
“Right girls, as I said this is who I am, your girlfriend Ash, I expect you to treat me just the same as you do each other, we are all here for a girls’ night out, let’s enjoy ourselves.”
To be continued.