Michael O’Leary – remember he’s the budget airline boss who wants to charge passengers for using the toilet on board Ryanair planes – has grabbed more headlines in the UK by suggesting dumping the second pilot from the flight deck of aircraft to save money.
O’Leary has floated the idea of air stewardesses being trained to land the plane in an emergency.
The Ryanair chief (having standing room-only passengers is another of his publicity pot shots) told Bloomberg Business Week that flying a plane is little more difficult than playing a computer game.
In an emergency, O’Leary told the magazine, the pilot could ring a bell, call the stewardess and, “she could take overâ€.
Understandably, the British Airline Pilots’ Association has called the idea “unwise, unsafe and the public will be horrified.â€
by Ian Jarrett
