Twin Pilots Retire By Landing Final Flights Just 30 Seconds Apart

A pair of twin brother pilots have marked their retirement by landing their last ever flights just 30 seconds apart.

Captains Jeremy and Nick Hart saw their 60^thbirthdays and retirements in in style when they landed their flights together at Heathrow on Thursday.

Nick from Banbury, Oxfordshire, said: "Like every aeroplane has its last landing, so does a pilot."

While his brother described retiring with his twin as: "a good way to finish".

Credit: STUART BAILEY/ British Airways

Jeremy had been flying for British Airways for an impressive 30 years, while his brother, Nick, joined from British Midland in 2012 when it was taken over by BA.

Nick said: "Jerry had never mentioned to his colleagues at British Airways that he had a twin brother who flew for British Midland, and one day [years ago] a British Airways pilot strode over to me at Heathrow and asked what on Earth I thought I was doing dressing up in a British Midland uniform.

"It took a bit of explaining to convince him that I wasn't Jeremy."

Of their time in the job the brothers shared their thoughts.

"I've done 28 years short-haul flying. That's about 11,000 flights. It's at least 1.2 million passengers," said Nick.

While his brother said: "I've spent more than two and-a-half years in the air - a lot of it in the holding pattern over Heathrow."

British Airways' head Airbus pilot James Basnett said: "They arrived in the world 30 minutes apart, flew the same aircraft in the same airline, and then departed in the same manner that they arrived - minutes apart.

"A fitting finale to long and impressive careers and I know that they will be sorely missed on the fleet."

Credit: STUART BAILEY/British Airways

Last month, British Airways came under fire when a man was charged double when he asked for a 'strong' cup of tea.

"Twinings has developed a signature blend for British Airways, so that our customers can enjoy their perfect cup of tea made to a strength that suits their taste."

A BA spokesman said: "Our customers tell us they want low fares. Being more efficient, through measures such as changing our catering product for short-haul economy customers, enables us to offer more low fares.

"Since we introduced buy-on-board catering, more customers have flown with us. We don't always get everything right but we listen to customers so that we can meet changing preferences."