What do you do when you’re heading out on a family vacation but the flight is delayed? Fly the plane yourself.
That was the case for one dad.
According to an article in the Sun, an off-duty easyJet pilot was traveling to Alicante, Spain, when flight delays began to impact his family vacation with his wife and son.
Instead of waiting out the delays that could have derailed many travelers’ vacations, pilot Michael Bradley stepped up to the plate and volunteered to captain the flight.
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According to easyJet, the flight delay was due to the effects of a French air traffic control failure.
“We are grateful to one of our pilots who was traveling on holiday from Manchester to Alicante on September 2 with his family and volunteered to operate the flight,” said a spokesperson for easyJet. “This meant customers could get to their destination and shows the commitment and dedication of our crew.”
The airline also noted that Bradley and the airline followed all regulations. He had his pilot license and identification with him at the airport.
Travelers were extremely grateful and expressed their gratitude online.
“It could only happen to me!! Get to the airport and our flight is delayed a couple of hours,” said passenger Michelle Potts. “Then I happen to look at the original time and it changed to gate closing!! Had to leg it across the airport to get on the flight. Get to boarding and asked the guy at the desk what’s going on he said ‘oh your pilot’s gone missing but a guy that’s going on your flight is going to fly the plane’ REALLY CASUALLY!
“Luckily the guy was actually a pilot!! Probably would have been canceled if it wasn’t for him,” she finished the caption. “Legend.”
