Vancouver Flight Goes Sideways 'Cause Co-Pilot Got His Left and Right Mixed Up 🤦‍♂️✈️

The Deets

Okay, so peep this: a British Airways Boeing 777 was about to yeet outta London Gatwick, headed straight for Vancouver, when things got a lil' spicy. Turns out, the co-pilot had a major "oopsie" moment and mixed up his left and right. No cap, fam! Instead of doing what he was supposed to do, he pulled the wrong lever (or whatever pilots pull, I ain't a pilot).

This led to a full-on aborted takeoff (RTO) situation. Thankfully, the flight commander was on it and they stopped the plane before it turned into a real problem. But hold up, it gets wilder. All that braking caused a 🔥 on the right main landing gear. Yikes!

Fire crews had to roll up and put out the flames, and the whole runway was shut down for almost an hour. 23 flights got straight-up cancelled, which is a major L for anyone trying to catch a flight. Passengers were probably fuming fr fr.

Here's the tea: the co-pilot had been on vacay for two weeks before this happened. He's got over 6,100 hours of flying time, so he's not exactly a newbie. The investigation called it an "action slip" and said there was no obvious reason for the mistake. He even said he was well-rested. Sometimes your brain just glitches, ya know?

British Airways is now telling all their pilots to be extra careful with their "methodical control selections" (whatever that means), and to mentally prepare and stay focused, especially after taking time off. They're basically saying, "Even if you're a pro, don't forget to double-check everything, just in case." Wise words, tbh.