A French pilot has received a 12-month suspended jail sentence after admitting his use of the drug Ecstasy had given him problems when landing an easyjet plane at the airport in Paris.

Police tapped a Paris drug ring’s conversations, leading to the discovery

As noted by Mixmag, police in Paris were tapping various phone conversations between members of a drug ring in Paris when they heard one of the drug dealers speaking with the EasyJet pilot. They caught him in the act, telling the dealer about his problems landing the plane at Paris Orly airport in May.

It turned out he had taken one third of an ecstacy pill while flying the EasyJet aircraft. Paris policy heard the pilot saying he was experiencing “the sweats” and wasn’t feeling well as he was flying the plane. He told the drug dealer he was doing “just any old thing” as the plane came in for a landing.

Pilot normally left off drugs for ‘two or three days’ prior to flying

According to a report by the Telegraph, the unnamed pilot on Friday attended the Créteil criminal court, where he was banned from piloting aircraft and also received a 12-month suspended sentence.

The pilot did admit in court that taking the drug while flying a plane was an “inexcusable error,” but added that at the time, he was confident the ecstasy drug’s side effects would wear off after around two hours.

The father of three went on to tell the judge that he normally stopped taking drugs around two to three days prior to flying, while admitting he also used cannabis and cocaine.

He reportedly said he had been using drugs for about 18 months while enjoying nights out in Paris. Stating that the pilot suffered from an addiction, the prosecutor said he was not in the same physical condition as a pilot who had not taken drugs.

EasyJet suspended the pilot from service

In a statement from EasyJet, the airline said the pilot in question was removed from service as soon as the police investigation began, adding that he was facing disciplinary proceedings.

Their spokesperson went on to stress that the safety of their passengers and crew were their first priority and that they have zero tolerance to the use of drugs and alcohol by their employees. However the spokesperson went onto add that the pilot was a first officer, who would always fly under the command of an experienced captain, noting that if the captain had seen any behavior that pointed to drug use or safety breaches, the airline would have taken immediate action to remove the pilot from duty.