Budget airline pilot caught posting Snapchat selfies while flying
A pilot has been sacked and his co-pilot has resigned after the pair posted selfies on Snapchat while flying with passengers at 30,000ft (9,000m).
EasyJet captain Michael Castellucci and his unnamed co-pilot posted a number of clips and photos on Snapchat during a flight from Paris to Madrid last month, The Sun reports.
Mr Castellucci took selfies with a filter on, pulled faces and filmed his co-pilot with a cartoon bird while both were sitting in the cockpit. In another clip, the co-pilot is filmed dancing with a cartoon character.
The cockpit dance video was posted on the pilot’s Snapchat, along with the other clips, and received more than 6,000 views. He also shared it on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, which have since been deleted.
Passengers were unaware of the Snapchat clips at the time but after the images emerged, some labelled the pair’s behaviour as “irresponsible”, “dangerous” and “unprofessional”.
An easyJet spokesman told aviation news website SecretFlying while at “no point” was the safety of passengers “compromised” the pilots’s behaviour fell “well short of the high standards easyJet expects”.
The spokesman added it was “not acceptable”.
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Mr Castellucci and his co-pilot were promptly suspended pending an investigation last month, but it’s now emerged the pilot has been sacked. His co-pilot has also resigned.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren labelled the behaviour of the two pilots as “very disappointing”.
“This is causing unnecessary difficulties and it shouldn’t have happened,” Mr Lundgren said.
