FLIGHT RETURNS BECAUSE CO-PILOT WASN’T FULLY CERTIFIED

A Virgin Atlantic flight heading from London, England to New York’s JFK Airport turned back to London after it emerged the first officer hadn’t completed the airline’s final flying test. The plane was around 40 minutes into the journey on Monday when what was called a “rostering error” (* scheduling screw-up) emerged, leading the flight to turn around and return. According to Virgin Air, the first officer had joined the company in 2017 and is qualified in accordance with UK flight regulations, but needed to complete the airline’s internal “final assessment” flight, the statement said. In addition, the flight’s captain, who’s “highly experienced” and has been with Virgin Atlantic for 17 years, did not have the designated trainer status, so the first officer was replaced with a new pilot. The company said both pilots were fully licensed and qualified to operate the aircraft, and the pairing did not not breach aviation or safety regulations, but the situation was not compliant with Virgin Atlantic’s internal training protocols.
* Sounds like somebody got sent to detention.
* Boy, that’s a lot of jargon to say the co-pilot wasn’t qualified to be in that plane.
* I’m sure there’s was a lot of “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” happening in the cockpit on the flight back.
* “Final assessment.” I just don’t think you should use the word “final” when talking about flying.