Virgin Atlantic Flight Diverts Because Pilot Hadn’t Completed Training

It is not uncommon for a long haul flight to return to its origin due to a maintenance issue or medical emergency. It's a reason you don't often hear about diversions.

Virgin Atlantic flight to New York returns to London

On Monday, May 2, 2022, Virgin Atlantic flight VS3 was going to fly from London to New York. The plane was operated by a nine year old A330-300 with the registration code G-VWAG.

After climbing all the way to 34,000 feet, the decision was made to return to London. The plane was off the west coast of Ireland. The plane spent 90 minutes in the air before landing.

The first officer was replaced and the plane continued on to New York. Why was the first officer replaced?

What caused this flight diversion?

The reason for this diversion is odd. The first officer had completed the final assessment flight that the airline requires in order to operate flights in this way. The first officer needed to operate at least one more flight with a training captain, and the captain on this flight wasn't a training captain.

The company policy was being breeched, and no rules were being broken.

• Both pilots were fully licensed and qualified to fly the A330, in line with UK Civil Aviation Authority requirements
• The captain was “highly experienced” and had flown with Virgin Atlantic for 17 years, while the first officer joined the airline in 2017

It sounds like the first officer may have changed the type of plane he is flying. This requires weeks of training and some flights with training captains. The last flight with a training captain wasn't completed.

There are a few thoughts.

• I’m curious how this situation was communicated to passengers, since it’s kind of awkward to announce “so ummm, the first officer hasn’t fully completed training on this jet, as it turns out, so we’re returning to London”
• The first officer was ultimately certified to fly the jet, so this all just came down to the technicality of a company policy; I’m a bit surprised that the decision wasn’t just made to continue to New York, given that the plane had already taken off
• Obviously the company is responsible for rostering a pilot in a way that doesn’t violate company policies, but I’m curious if the first officer knew he hadn’t completed his last training flight, or how exactly no one caught this issue before the plane took off.

Bottom line

A Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York was returned to London after it was discovered that the first officer hadn't actually completed his final training flight. While the pilot was certified on the jet in line with legal requirements, he needed one more flight with a training captain.

There was a strange reason for the flight to be diverted.

What do you think of the Virgin Atlantic diversion?