Pilot tells passengers “I am not qualified to land the plane”
by Josh Lew
Dec 17th 2008 @ 1:30PM
A Flybe Airlines flight from Cardiff to Paris had to turn around because of fog at Charles De Gaulle Airport. The fog did not force the airport to close. Rather, the pilot, a man with 30 years of experience, had never completed low-visibility training for the particular aircraft that he was flying.
Passengers on the flight were stunned when, 20 minutes shy of De Gaulle, the pilot got on the PA system and, instead of announcing the imminent arrival, said the following:
‘Unfortunately I’m not qualified to land the plane in Paris. They are asking for a level two qualification and I only have a level five. We’ll have to fly back.’
And fly back they did. The bizarre incident is nothing if not humorous, but I doubt the passengers on the flight were amused.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that such a situation was rare, but not unheard of.
Source: www.gadling.com
Definitely sue the airlines.
This sucks. Hopefully their mechanics more reliable.
Why doesn’t he have to be fully qualified in the first place? 30 years experience and not qualified to land in foggy conditions?! Just imagine if there were not enough fuel an he had to land! I don’t understand it.
Anon 3:02:00 PM
Definitely sue the airlines.
For what damage? Not dying in an airplane crash? You must be native born American, if that’s the only thing comes to your mind.
Anon 7:29:00 AM
Why doesn’t he have to be fully qualified in the first place? 30 years experience and not qualified to land in foggy conditions?! Just imagine if there were not enough fuel an he had to land! I don’t understand it.
I think the key is in the wording:
“Rather, the pilot, a man with 30 years of experience, had never completed low-visibility training for the particular aircraft that he was flying.”
I think it was a technicality. Obviously a pilot with 30 years experience knew how to land an airplane under low visibility conditions. Most probably, he even knew how to land that particular airplane, but if he was specifically asked “do you have specific training, for this particular aircraft, in low visibility conditions ON PAPER?” he was forced to say “no”. Once such conversation took place, he had no choice, but to turn back, unless he wanted to lose his job.