Virgin Atlantic pilot

About 40 minutes into the flight to New York on Monday, the two pilots became aware of the "rostering error", the airline said. Flight VS3 had reached the skies ...

You can also get in touch in the following ways: Virgin Atlantic said a replacement for the first officer was found and the plane departed again for New York. A Virgin Atlantic aircraft turned back to Heathrow after it emerged the first officer had not completed his final flying test.

The Airbus A330 jet was nearly 40 minutes into its journey to the US on Monday when the 'rostering error' became apparent.

However, he was not a designated trainer, meaning he was not qualified to fly alongside a pilot who had not fully completed dedicated Virgin Atlantic training. A replacement for the first officer was found, and the plane departed again for New York. A Virgin Atlantic flight to New York had to turn back to Heathrow after it emerged one of the pilots had not completed his training.

The Airbus A330, just 40 minutes into its flight, was ordered to return to Heathrow. Passengers landed in the US almost three hours later than planned while ...

The plane got as far as Ireland and then they found out the first officer was still in training. It was embarrassing for everyone and the passengers were furious.' 'If they had continued to feed us all as promised, we would have been outside of the four-hour delay compensation window and Virgin would have had to pay greater compensation to each passenger. '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. Julie and Marc Vincent from Bournemouth were on board the flight and told MailOnline how staff blamed the situation on a clerical error. As a qualified pilot, first officers are also meant to support the captain with communicating with air traffic control and flying the plane. They started to serve first class passengers with just one trolley, which took a long time, but before we could be served, the plane took off again. 'We were kept on the plane and offered plastic cups of water while we waited for an update. It also assured passengers that safety had not been compromised, with both pilots fully licensed and qualified to operate the aircraft. Virgin jet to New York is forced to turn back to Heathrow after captain is told first officer had not completed his training His role as first officer meant he was responsible for maintaining the safety of the flight. The Airbus A330, just 40 minutes into its flight, was ordered to return to Heathrow.