Just imagine you're on a flight from London to New York, you just got up in the air, and all of a sudden you're told the flight is turning around because of the small detail that the pilot hadn't actually completed his certification with the airline.

Yeah, I'd be holding my breath for that landing.

That's just what happened on this Virgin Atlantic flight earlier this week.

From CNN:

Flight VS3 was around 40 minutes into the journey on Monday when a "rostering error" emerged, leading to the flight returning to London, an airline spokesperson said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

The first officer joined the company in 2017 and is qualified in accordance with UK flight regulations, but needed to complete the airline's internal "final assessment" flight, the statement said.

Yep, he skipped the final exam.

He's worked at Virgin for five years and they just now noticed that he didn't take and pass the final test!

Virgin Atlantic said the flight's captain, who's "highly experienced" and has been with Virgin Atlantic for 17 years, did not have the designated trainer status, and the first officer was replaced with a new pilot.

Yeah, so the dude obviously knows how to fly an airplane, but it's kinda important when you switch airlines that your new employer actually make sure those paper credentials transfer into actual skill.

The company said both pilots were fully licensed and qualified to operate the aircraft, and the pairing did not not breach aviation or safety regulations.

However, the airline said the situation was not compliant with Virgin Atlantic's internal training protocols, prompting the decision to turn back.

You know, I think if you're Virgin you might let him compete this flight and then deal with the red tape issue, instead of creating these bad headlines for your company.

All in all, however, any possible crisis was averted.

Passengers on the flight arrived in New York 2 hours 40 minutes later than scheduled, which the airline spokesperson apologized for.

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that "both pilots were suitably licensed and qualified to undertake the flight."

If all it meant was a 3-hour delay on a multi-hour flight I think I'd prefer to be in the hands of an approved pilot.

What do you think?

P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇