Was it a descent into madness?
An Icelandair pilot has been ripped as reckless after flying a Boeing 757 dangerously low above his hometown to celebrate his retirement, as seen in shocking footage taking off online.
“This is not standard practice; this is a very serious matter that we will review internally,” Linda Gunnarsdóttir, a chief pilot with the airline, told local media while discussing his harebrained last hurrah.
The veteran airman in question, Captain Ólafur Bragason, 65, had reportedly been embarking on his final flight — a trip to from Frankfurt to Keflavik — after four decades in the industry, Iceland media reported.
The trip took him over his childhood stomping grounds of Vestmannaeyjar — a volcanic archipelago off southern Iceland.
To make his send off more memorable, the low-riding flyboy decided to take the 155 foot commercial aircraft on an unauthorized flyover of around 330 feet above the scenic islands as a tribute to where he grew up.
Footage shows the jumbo jet soaring at a frighteningly low altitude over trees and rooftops.
Residents reportedly became quite alarmed over the perilous pass with some even fearing that the plane was about to crash.
Thankfully, no one was injured during the air-headed feat and the daredevil later touched down at Keflavik International Airport.
Nonetheless, Icelandair reps were not impressed with Bragason’s reckless stunt, which was performed without the knowledge or consent of the airline.
“In aviation, everything is tightly governed by procedures and checklists in normal passenger operations, and this does not fall within that framework,” Gunnarsdóttir declared in a statement. She added that while such celebratory flyovers have happened from “time to time, but it is by no means standard practice and not something we would have authorized.”
“We apologize to the residents of Vestmannaeyjar if they have been disturbed,” she said, adding that the company is probing the matter.
The flight data, including the altitude, will reportedly be reviewed as part of the investigation while Icelandair also reported the incident to the police.
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