A pilot who terrified onlookers with a low-level fly-by to mark an airline’s final long-haul flight has been cleared of wrongdoing.
The Air Berlin pilot named only as Michel R., 60, was given air traffic control permission before carrying out a lap of Dusseldorf Airport with 200 passengers on board.
He reportedly wanted to mark Air Berlin’s last ever long-haul flight, arriving at Germany’s third-largest airport in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia from Miami on October 16.
The public prosecutor’s office in Dusseldorf confirmed a complaint had been filed for a ‘dangerous intervention in rail, ship and air transport’.
A pilot who terrified onlookers with a low-level fly-by to mark an airline’s final long-haul flight has been cleared of wrongdoing. the plant is pictured flying low over Dusseldorf airport
The pilot of the Airbus A330 – which was carrying 200 passengers – was allowed by traffic control to do a flyover as it was the last flight operated from the US to Germany
Some witnesses to the landing were reportedly scared by the sudden fly-by as they thought something was terribly wrong.
They blasted the pilots of the Airbus A380 as ‘idiots’ and said that they should have their licences taken away.
In one of the videos of the event a woman can be heard saying ‘What is it doing?’ as the aeroplane suddenly seems to accelerate instead of slowing down to land.
The aeroplane then makes a sharp left turn towards the terminal building, with the people on the outside terrace screaming in fear.
A video shows the plane appearing to attempt to land before regaining speed and altitude and turning quickly to the left
The pilot reportedly wanted to mark Air Berlin’s last ever long-haul flight, arriving at Germany’s third-largest airport in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia from Miami on October 16
An airport employee who watched the dramatic scenes unfold thought at first the aeroplane would crash right into the terminal
An airport employee who watched the dramatic scenes unfold thought at first the aeroplane would crash into the terminal.
She said: ‘It was a strange feeling when the A330 came right at us, as we did not know before that it would do an honorary lap.’
However, passengers on board appreciated the honorary flyover and said they did not feel in danger as the pilot informed them about the manoeuvre.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Supervisory Office for Air Traffic Control stated on Tuesday that the authorities have decided that the spectacular manoeuvre was not an offence.
In the video shot from the control tower of Dusseldorf Airport, however, it can be clearly seen that it was a perfectly orchestrated move and that at no point anyone at the airport was in danger
Air Berlin was Germany’s second biggest airline after Lufthansa and took part in the Oneworld airline alliance spearheaded by British Airways
The pilots involved were found to have broken no rules and will not be suffering any consequences, financial or otherwise.
There was no suggestion that the unnamed air traffic controller who granted permission for the flyby was ever accused of any offence.
According to local media, at a final Air Berlin farewell party the controversial pilot was ‘celebrated like a hero’ by the former Air Berlin employees, many of whom were without a job after the airline ceased its operations completely on October 27.
The last Air Berlin flight was from Munich to Berlin. The airline was once the second biggest in Germany but ran into financial difficulties and went bankrupt earlier this year.