“The pilot is unlicensed, the plane has to go back.” A sensational case that comes from Great Britain. It happened last Monday, on a Virgin Atlantic airline flight, which departed from London’s Heathrow airport and headed to JFK in New York. According to what was reconstructed by the English newspapers, the pilot had carried out, together with the commander, 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. So Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A330 returned to London airport and the co-pilot was replaced.
Virgin policy
The airline told travelers that the problem was caused by a rotation error and apologized. He also assured passengers that safety was never compromised – both pilots were fully licensed and qualified to use the plane. According to Virgin policy, the co-pilot needed a “final evaluation flight” with a training captain in order to fly.