The captain of a budget airline was accused of poor form after leaving his passengers in a flap and on a burning aircraft, making a dash for the emergency exit.
Vueling flight 8754 was preparing depart Barcelona for Birmingham on Thursday when passengers reported smelling smoke in the cabin. The next thing they knew their pilot had run out on them.
"There was this huge bang and smell of burning smoke coming from the back of the plane. All the lights went off, and the emergency lights came on," passenger Andrew Benion told the Sun. "It was terrifying."
No sooner had an attendant disarmed and opened the front emergency exit, their captain jumped out.
"His door opened then the side door opened and bang - he was just gone. Then all his crew ran off after him and left us all. There was only one stewardess left on the plane and you could see the fear on her face," said Benion.