EasyJet passenger hailed ‘legend’ as he steps in to fly plane to Spain after pilot went ‘missing’

5 September 2019, 13:36

A dad stopped an easyJet flight from being cancelled when he offered to fly the plane to Spain himself.

An easyJet passenger has been branded a ‘legend’ after he stepped in to fly a plane when the pilot didn’t show.

Michael Bradley - who’s a qualified easyJet pilot - was flying to Alicante from Manchester Airport with his family when he heard his plane had been delayed by two hours.

Luckily, he took along his licence and ID along to the airport and offered to fly the plane to avoid the flight being cancelled completely.

Footage shows the dad, who was with his young son and wife, receive a round of applause as he informed passengers he would be taking over.

In a video captured by a passenger and shared on Facebook, he can be heard announcing: "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... 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.

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"I phoned up EasyJet and said, 'Hiya, I'm standing in the terminal doing nothing.

"I have got my licence with me... I have got my ID with me and I'd very much like to go on holiday, and if you need a favour I'm standing here ready to go.’

"They said 'we'll phone you back'.”

Michael then revealed the budget airline got in contact with him 30 seconds later begging him to fly the plane to Alicante.

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Dressed in casual clothing, he joked: “So if you’re alright with one of your pilots to look like this today, we’ll go to Alicante.”

Passenger Michelle Potts caught the clip and captioned it: "It could only happen to me!! Get to the airport and our flight is delayed a couple of hours.

"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 of been cancelled if it wasn't for him! Legend."

The original pilot was had to make his way from Liverpool to Manchester which is why the flight was delayed.

A spokesperson for EasyJet told the Manchester Evening News the flight's delay "due to the knock on effects of the French ATC failure on Sunday", meaning the airline was forced to rely on standby cabin crew.

A statement from the company read: "We are grateful to one of our pilots who was travelling on holiday from Manchester to Alicante on September 2 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 licence and ID with him. "Safety is always our highest priority."