Have you ever been on an airplane, and wondered what would happen if the pilot couldn’t fly it? Would you be able to step into their place and fly the plane instead? This is what happened for one off-duty pilot.
A husband and father, this is what he did. Although being a pilot is his job, this time he was an off-duty pilot, who was only on the plane to go on vacation with his family. Michael Bradley is a pilot who is employed by British airline EasyJet, but had time off to travel to Alicante, Spain with his family.
Most people would have been looking forward to the chance to sit back and relax for a few hours, reading a book, playing a video game or listening to some music. Not Michael Bradley. The night before, his wife had found out that the flight was going to be delayed by two hours as the captain didn’t make an appearance. Waking her husband up, she let him know the news, and he decided that he may as well bring his license and identification to the airport.
Off-duty pilot
A pilot by trade, he made a phone call to EasyJet to ask if they could make use of his skills. Making sure that he had his ID with him, he was ready to go. The company confirmed that they could use his skills and experience, and that was it! Bradley had to announce to the rest of the passengers that he was the new pilot, to their surprise and bemusement.
It’s not something that happens every day, but in this case, it was the result of an air traffic control failure a few days prior to the flight. Clearly eager to get to Alicante, all passengers were able to arrive in the Spanish city bang on time.
When you’re boarding a plane ready for your vacation, you don’t expect to see the pilot in his holiday clothes, but for the passengers on this flight, it became a reality. But it was lucky – if an off-duty pilot hadn’t have been boarding the plane, they would have started their vacation late.
For more fascinating vacation trivia, check this out!
