Socialites, get into this! A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York was turned around Monday after it was determined that one of the pilots of the aircraft was NOT fully trained to fly!
According to a report by Sky News, the plane flight packed with passengers was 40 minutes into the flight. At some point, the co-pilot somehow made it known he had not taken his final flying test, qualifying him to take a seat in the cockpit. Flight VS3 had reached the skies above Ireland before returning to Heathrow, touching down more than one and a half hours after it took off. A replacement for the first officer was found, and the plane departed again for New York.
Now, to note, both pilots were licensed to fly the plane, but one of the pilots did not have trainer status. “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,” the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said in a statement. While many people question why did the plane have to turn around if they were both “qualified,” instead, the spokesperson said a “rostering error” simply led to the issue before apologizing. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers who arrived 2 hours 40 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the crew change,” the spokesperson said.
A Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson also said it was made aware of the incident by the airline and confirmed “both pilots were suitably licensed and qualified to undertake the flight.”
The news site notes that the captain has been described as “highly experienced” with “many thousands of hours of flight time during 17 years at Virgin Atlantic”, while his co-pilot was said to have joined the airline in 2017.
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