Open Post: Hosted By The Virgin Flight That Turned Around Because The Pilot Wasn’t Qualified

The Guardian reports that on Monday, a New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight turned back to London just 40 minutes into its journey. According to the airline, the pilots became aware of a “rostering error” somewhere over Ireland. The first officer (the co-pilot) was not fully qualified under UK flight regulations! He was just some dude who punched out the real first officer at the airport bar and stole his uniform! OK, no it’s actually not that exciting. The co-pilot was a real pilot, he just hadn’t completed the required “final assessment flight” with a proper training captain. And the captain on this flight wasn’t designated as a trainer, so he couldn’t fly with this particular #2. Snooore!

The Airbus A330 returned to Heathrow an hour-and-a-half after its initial takeoff, got a replacement pilot, and tried the whole “let’s fly to NYC!” thing once again. The flight finally arrived at JFK Airport a full 3 hours after their original arrival time. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said:

“Due to a rostering error, flight VS3 from London Heathrow to New York-JFK returned to Heathrow on Monday 2 May shortly after take-off. The qualified first officer, who was flying alongside an experienced captain, was replaced with a new pilot to ensure full compliance with Virgin Atlantic’s training protocols, which exceed industry standards. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers, who arrived two hours and 40 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the crew change.”

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, the UK regulator, said that they were aware of the incident, and both pilots were “suitably licensed and qualified to undertake the flight.” One passenger, Mary Ingram, told the Daily Mail:

‘We had all settled down, boots off, halfway into our first film, with the smell of dinner floating through the cabin when an announcement was made by the pilot saying, ‘Some of you have noticed from the flight tracker map that we have made a 180 degree turn and are returning to Heathrow. Don’t be alarmed, but we are having to return to Heathrow due to an administrative error.’

Mary added that she and her fellow passengers behaved “very calmly” with “no overt frustration or anger.” But another anonymous passenger who spoke to The Sun had a wildly different version of events:

‘You could have cut the tension in the cockpit with a knife. The plane got as far as Ireland and then they found out the first officer was still in training. The skipper had no choice but to go back to Heathrow and find a more experienced member of the crew. It was embarrassing for everyone and the passengers were furious.’

British media is fascinating. The Guardian’s headline for this story was “Virgin flight turns back to replace pilot who had not done final flying test.” The Daily Mail’s was “This is your co-pilot speaking… I’m only a trainee!” But The Sun had my favorite: “THIS IS YOUR PILOT FREAKING: Brit holidaymakers terrified as Virgin Atlantic pilot forced to turn back because he was still in training”. You gotta give it to The Sun, they transformed a basic story into a disaster thriller that rivals Sully Sullenberger’s landing in the Hudson River, the Uruguayan rugby team crashing in the Andes, and that time there were motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking plane!

Pic: Paramount Pictures