40 minutes into a flight to New York, a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330 was ordered back to London due to a staffing snafu that placed an “unqualified” pilot in the flight deck.
Virgin Atlantic A330 Returns To London Due To Pilot Training Snafu
Virgin Atlantic flight 3 from London (LHR) to New York (JFK) took off on schedule, but made an abrupt 180º turn for London as it approached the west coast of Ireland on Monday, May 2, 2022. It was discovered in the air that the first officer had not yet taken a “final assessment flight” with a training captain, as required by Virgin Atlantic policy.
Passengers were not informed of the nature of the reason for the return to Heathrow, prompting fear. One passenger told the UK Daily Mail:
“We’d just cleared the west coast of Ireland when the captain announced ‘you may have noticed that we have conducted a 180 degree turn’ before telling us that we were returning to Heathrow due to an ‘administration error’ and that they needed to get some paperwork signed off legally to be able to continue our journey.”
Another passenger added:
“We had all settled down, boots off, halfway into our first film, with the smell of dinner floating through the cabin when an announcement was made by the pilot saying, ‘Some of you have noticed from the flight tracker map that we have made a 180 degree turn and are returning to Heathrow. Don’t be alarmed, but we are having to return to Heathrow due to an administrative error.
“The passengers behaved very calmly with no overt frustration or anger. It was unknown what the real cause of the return to Heathrow was, because clearly Virgin would not want to incur the loss of a returned, and therefore delayed, flight due to a paperwork administrative error.
“There was a certain amount of concern that something may have been wrong with the plane, so on landing we were all relieved when that went smoothly. It didn’t help that the pilot or co-pilot told us to note our nearest exit in the pre-landing announcement.
“We were not allowed off the plane while we sat on the Tarmac for what was about another half an hour for re-fuelling, and what I now know replacement of the co-pilot.”
Addressing the delay, Virgin Atlantic explained:
“Due to a rostering error, flight VS3 from London Heathrow to New York-JFK returned to Heathrow on Monday, May 2 shortly after take-off.
“The qualified first officer, who was flying alongside an experienced captain, was replaced with a new pilot to ensure full compliance with Virgin Atlantic’s training protocols, which exceed industry standards.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers who arrived two hours, 40 minutes later than scheduled as a result of the crew change.”
The delay has left me scratching my head. The FO was fully licensed to fly on the A330. He had also completed several training flights, missing only the final assessment flight. Chances are, all would have been fine had the flight continued to New York City and a replacement pilot flown in to operate the return leg. But as we saw recently on Air France, sometimes things go wrong in the cockpit and I don’t blame Virgin Atlantic for acting out of an abundance of caution. Still, how was that mistake even made in the first place?
CONCLUSION
A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York returned to London after Virgin Atlantic realized the first officer was unqualified to fly the plane, per its internal training polices. Passengers were not given a full explanation during the flight or on the ground in Heathrow. The flight eventually took off again, arriving in New York just under three hours late.
image: Virgin Atlantic
The main issue would be one of insurance. Airlines undertake to insurers that they would meet certain minimum standards as a way to keep their premiums down. If they continued the flight after having found out about this issue and something subsequently went wrong, there would be significant issues with the coverage.
In the end, the delay was only 2h40m so no need for them to pay UK261/2004 compensation either.
It’s not just insurance. As they continue to fly west they are entering new aviation authorities (Canada, US, Iceland, etc). Each one of those is going to want answers as to why this flight didn’t have qualified personnel on board. Each border they cross is a new set of fines and penalties.
The personnel WERE statutorily qualified, but not to the internal standard that Virgin Atlantic sets for their crew. It would not have been a regulatory issue as both pilots held the appropriate licenses with the appropriate P1/P2 ratings respectively.
The final line check is of course a requirement under the companies operations manual. That document is required by and approved by the regulatory authority and flights have to be conducted in accordance with it. So while the copilot was licenced he had not completed all the training required to fly with any one other than a training Captain, that was the problem. To be a training Captain of course requires a number of courses and approvals
I’m sure you’re right, insurance is a probable issue and also to avoid problems with the FAA. Everywhere that I have worked, airlines need to submit copies of their operating procedures, manuals etc for approval by the local regulators and then are expected to comply with those procedures. If the flight had arrived in USA in breach of those procedures, for something potentially serious like a pilot not having been fully certified by the airline, then it would probably trigger an FAA investigation which would be time consuming, costly and a lot of hassle.
Crew scheduling mistake …100% the right think to turn around once VS knew what was happening. I would not say it was a safety issue but either way, they made the best decision they could at the time. This happens the other way too. Last year I flew with a training captain while other pilots were waiting forever to complete their Initial Operating Experience. the captain called Crew scheduling and admitted it was an error.
The qualification issue was Virgin company policy only. It was not a legal requirement by the aviation authorities. So he was legally qualified. Which asks the question why didn’t Virgin just continue the flight? There would have been no government or regulatory violation.
Did this qualify every passenger for compensation under EU laws?
The flight was London to New York on a British carrier. No EU involved.
Also the final delay was under 3 hours.
The UK has adopted rules similar to the EU rules
So without reading this entirely, he was deemed OK to fly BACK but not closer to the destination. That’s Illogical Captain.
“Rookie” is a misnomer. The pilot was fully qualified and type rated and legally could fly the airplane. The pilot needed a line flight with a check airmen and the captain assigned was not a check airmen. In reality, they turned back because of the captain and not the FO.