Passenger steps up to fly plane after pilot goes missing

It’s news that every traveler hates to hear: Your flight will be delayed.

But for an easyJet plane full of people heading from Manchester, England, to Alicante, Spain, recently, that news was followed by something unexpected. To get everyone off the ground, a fellow passenger would fly the plane.

Michelle Potts, who said she was on the flight, wrote on Facebook that she arrived at the airport to discover a delay of a couple of hours, then had to rush to the gate when she saw the information had changed and the flight was getting ready to take off.

“Get to boarding and asked the guy at the desk what’s going on,”she wrote.“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!!!”

The casualness of his delivery was because the“guy”was Michael Bradley, an easyJet pilot heading out for his own vacation.

“I’d very much like to go on holiday”Bradley said.“And if you need a favor, I’m standing here ready to go.”

Bradley said his wife had told him early in the morning that the flight was delayed because the airline was short a pilot. It wasn’t clear exactly how she knew those details, but a spokesman for easyJet said the airline publishes delay information on its website.

Bradley said he called easyJet and explained he was at the terminal and had his license and identification with him.

In less than a minute — 38 seconds, to be exact —his phone rang:“They phoned me back and said,‘Please, please, pretty please with a big cherry on top.’”

And off they went.