UK airline pilot sacked for sightseeing tour The pilot of a passenger plane who flew fives miles off course in bad weather to "show his co-pilot the scenery" has been sacked, the Daily Telegraph reports. Captain Roger Old, 61, was flying from Aberdeen to Shetland's Sumburgh Airport with 17 passengers aboard a Dornier 328-100 when he took the unscheduled detour. He ignored …
"Close proximity with the terrain", eh? That dratted terrain, always getting in the way of a nice flight! I guess this is along the same lines as the apocryphal post-airline crash headline: "Plane too close to ground, crash probe told."
In other news, they say that there are "no old, bold pilots" - but I guess that Mr. Old is the exception that proves the rule. Would I be pushing this too far if I suggested that he'll have to resort to piloting his Oldsmobile from now on?
Living under the proper flight-path from Aberdeen to Shetland I can tell you that it is a nice safe route over flat terrain.
If you deviate to any significant degree to the west then you do find some lovely picturesque terrain - mountains!
What was he thinking?!
"Lets see now... I'm flying fairly low as its a short trip and I have decided to fly through cloud to an area that I know to contain lots of lovely mountains... that's funny, why is the warning system telling me to pull up?"
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