High-flying pilot Joe makes mum proud

Cathy Davis, a cabin crew purser for British Airways, was wined and dined by her son, first officer Joe Davis, 23, in the Greek capital last Saturday.

The duo, who are one of only a handful of BA mother and son flying teams out of around 19,000 pilot and cabin crew employees, walked around the Acropolis before enjoying a meal.

The following morning, Joe and Cathy worked on the same flight home.

The pair, who both live in Longlands, Worthing, with husband and dad Paul, both currently operate A319, A320 and A321 aircraft on short-haul commercial flights for BA.

Joe, a Leeds University graduate, was inspired to gain his wings after spending summers travelling with his mother as a child.

He said: “My mum was definitely my inspiration to become a pilot. I grew up watching her putting on her uniform and flying around the world.

“Ever since I was a child I knew I wanted to fly. Mum used to take me on trips with her back in the days when you were allowed on the flight deck.”

Joe had to treat his mum a week early for Mother’s Day as he jetted off to Paris on Sunday.

The First Officer – who joined British Airways through the airline’s Future Pilots Programme – took to the skies in May and has already flown to more than 47 different cities including Berlin, Rome and Cairo.

When he passed the programme, he became British Airways’ youngest pilot.

Cathy, 55, has been flying for more than 30 years. She said she was ‘extremely proud’ to see her son in the cockpit and was in ‘total awe’ of what he does.

She said: “I’m delighted that Joe has carried on the family tradition. Flying is clearly in our genes. It feels incredibly special working with him as this has always been his dream. There’s so much work he has done to get to where he is.”

Mel Birch, head of cabin crew for BA’s short-haul fleet, said: “Despite more than 15,000 cabin crew and almost 4,000 pilots working for British Airways it’s still pretty rare to find a mother and son team both flying on the same aircraft.

“Their incredibly close bond must make them the perfect partnership.”