Airline Passenger Flies Plane As Flight Delayed Due To Pilot Shortage

An Easyjet passenger, also an off-duty pilot, replaced a missing captain and flew a plane from Manchester, England, to Alicante, Spain, on Sunday after the flight was delayed.

Michael Bradley, an Easyjet pilot traveling with his wife and young son, decided to take his license along after he was informed that the flight was delayed by two hours. Just to ensure the flight didn’t get canceled or delayed for longer amid a pilot shortage, Bradley made his way into the cockpit.

In a Facebook video, Bradley can be seen making the announcement.

“My wife who’s on row 15 with my little boy – hopefully he’s asleep by now, I should keep it down or else I’ll get told off – she rolled over and punched me in the back of the head and said ‘our flight’s delayed by two hours because they are minus one captain for the flight.’ So just before we went through security I thought I wonder if this is worth a phone call, I think it is because I’d like to go on holiday,” he told passengers.

“I phoned up EasyJet and said ‘Hiya, I’m standing in the terminal doing nothing. I have got my license with me – deliberately from being punched in the back of the head at 3 a.m. – I have got my ID with me and I’d very much like to go on holiday and if you need a favor I’m standing here ready to go,” he said, adding that he got a call back in less than a minute asking him to go ahead.

Confirming the news, an Easyjet spokesman said the flight was delayed “due to the knock on effects of the French Air Traffic Control failure on Sunday, which impacted on crew and meant they had to rely on standbys.”

Thanking Bradley for stepping in at the right time, the spokesman said, “We are grateful to one of our pilots who was traveling on holiday from Manchester to Alicante with his family and volunteered to operate the flight. This meant customers could get to their destination and shows the commitment and dedication of our crew. This is fully in line with regulations as he had his license and ID with him. Safety is always our highest priority.”