A London-New York flight forced to turn around to… change pilots

the essential
Monday, a Virgin Atlantic plane had to turn around after forty minutes of flight, to change pilot.

Monday, May 2, a funny scene occurred on a flight from London Heathrow to New York-JFK. Forty minutes after takeoff, while flying over Ireland, the plane was forced to turn around. The reason ? The co-pilot had not completed his training. The airline, Virgin, referred to an “assignment error”.

If he was qualified enough to sit in the cockpit, the co-pilot had not made the “final evaluation flight”, which is part of the airline’s internal requirements. For his part, although experienced, the captain “was not qualified to fly alongside a co-pilot who had not fully completed the dedicated Virgin Atlantic training”.

The aircraft therefore had to turn around in a hurry. Passengers had to wait while finding a qualified replacement. The plane finally arrived in New York almost three hours late.

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