A pilot with more than 30 years experience had to turn his plane around just minutes from landing because he was not qualified to land in fog. One passenger from England missed a job interview in France because of the incident.
Passengers on the flight with low-cost airline Flybe were about to land in Paris when the pilot told them they would have to fly all the way back to Cardiff, England. A passenger reported that the pilot said: “Unfortunately I’m not qualified to land the plane in Paris. They are asking for a level two qualification, and I only have a level five. We’ll have to fly back.’”
A spokeswoman for the airline said they back the pilot’s decision “100 percent.” He had recently switched from flying a Bombardier Q300 to a Bombardier Q400 and did not complete the “requisite low-visibility training,” she said. (So why was he flying the jet in the first place?)
When it first took off, the plane was already three hours late due to bad weather in Wales. Dense fog apparently enveloped Charles de Gaulle airport after the flight was already in progress.
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