London, a Virgin Atlantic flight turns back because the co-pilot did not complete the training

One of those situations in which no one would ever want to be. On a plane with a co-pilot who hasn’t completed the training. And so it turned out that the plane had to go back. Much to the regret of the passengers. It really happened to an airliner forced to return to the departure airport while it was already in flight after take-off, when it was discovered that the co-pilot who accompanied the captain in the cabin had not yet completed the training as he had not passed the final test to be able to ballre the first officer aircraft. The case last Monday, on a transatlantic flight of the airline Virgin Atlantic, which departed from London Heathrow and headed to JFK in New York. According to what was reconstructed by the English newspapers as the Guardianil ball together with the commander he had carried out all the control and take-off procedures without problems but, after about forty minutes of flight, the captain was told that the first officer had not completed his training.

The Airbus A330 with dozens of passengers on board so it could not help but reverse the route and return to the British capital. At that time the plane was over Ireland and, after landing, had to wait on the runway while a qualified replacement was found. In the end, the passengers landed in the United States almost three hours later than the scheduled time. The airline admitted the mistake by apologizing to the travelers and explaining that the problem was caused by a rotation error of the crew. The company also assured that safety was never compromised, with both pilots fully licensed and qualified to operate the aircraft. According to the company, in fact, the co-pilot only needed a “final evaluation flight” with a captain to be able to fly online but had already passed all the courses to take on the role of first officer and responsible for maintaining the safety of the flight. The pairing of the two pilots practically did not violate any aviation or safety regulations but did not comply with the company’s internal training protocols which are more stringent.