Hong Kong - An expatriate pilot with Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has been fired for performing a Top Gun-style stunt in which he swooped metres over a runway in a new Boeing passenger jet, the airline said Sunday. Ian Wilkinson was piloting the Boeing 777-300ER on its maiden flight from the manufacturer's plant in Seattle on January 30 when he turned around after takeoff and swooped around 10 metres over the runway at 280 knots.
"The pilot in command of the flight was dismissed as he had neither sought nor obtained the necessary company approval to undertake such a fly-by. A second pilot involved has also been subject to disciplinary proceedings," a company spokeswoman said.
Cathay Pacific's chairman Chris Pratt was among around 30 VIP passengers on board the champagne flight to Hong Kong when Wilkinson did his unauthorized fly-by of the Boeing factory.
Wilkinson, a respected senior management pilot in his mid-50s, was suspended shortly after arriving back in Hong Kong and was dismissed at a disciplinary hearing last week.
His co-pilot Ray Middleton, who is understood to have been unaware the fly-by was unauthorized, was suspended from training duties for six months.
A video of the spectacular stunt in which the giant Boeing plane is seen flying with its landing gear raised just metres above the runway while spectators on the ground cheer and whoop was posted on the You Tube website but has since been removed.
On pilots' gossip forums, some fellow fliers described the stunt as bold and an outstanding piece of flying while others said it was dangerous and poorly executed.
"Whatever you think of it, it was a quite remarkable piece of flying," one Cathay Pacific insider told Deutsche Press-Agentur
