An Alaska Airlines flight was delayed more than two hours because the plane’s captain refused to cooperate with the first officer (copilot) assigned to the trip, with whom he had fallen out minutes earlier. The plane was already taxiing for takeoff when the captain himself warned the passengers that he was returning to the gate because he “didn’t get along well” with his colleague.
According to passengers who shared the situation on Twitter, the case happened on Monday, July 18, on flight AS1080, which was flying from the US capital Washington DC to San Francisco, California. The Airbus A320, which was due to take off at 4:10 p.m., was already delayed at the departure airport by almost an hour due to bad weather.
When the aircraft was already moving through the apron, the commander of the public address system announced that he would give up the journey. The pilot, whose name has not been released, said the relationship issue between the two could have “impact on flight safety”.
The end of his “sorry” pic.twitter.com/V48CSPMMHa
— Goodnight Texas (@Goodnight_Texas) July 18, 2022
Witnesses told the media that upon his return, he left the gate extremely angry and refused to come back on board. It took another two hours before another pilot was found and the plane was able to take off at 19:30.
Passengers vented their anger on social media.
“This is a first for me. Alaska #1080 from IAD to SFO, already delayed due to weather, returning to gate. Pilot says he and his first officer don’t get along… so in the interests of safety… get off the plane,” Ketchum executive vice president of health and public affairs Al Jackson wrote in a tweet.
Another passenger on the same flight said the replacement pilot was greeted with “rapturous applause.”
So far, those involved in the confusion have not publicly positioned themselves, nor has the airline said what action it will take. The videos available in this article were taken from the Twitter microblog and show a small part of the situation that happened on that flight.
Continuation, @AlaskaAir There your professional pilot takes off into the sunset pic.twitter.com/Yrw4VnvzF2
— CDC MUSIC FACTORY (@iwillbeamyouup) July 18, 2022