David Woodruffe has been flying all his life. But what could be a better farewell than flying his final alongside daughter Kat Woodruffe. The father-daughter duo touched down at London Heathrow on Thursday (2nd Nov) after completing his retirement flight from New York.
Woodruffes were British Airways's only father-daughter Boeing 777 pilot team.
David joined the airline in 1984 and since then held the role of captain. After his last flight with the daughter he said mixed emotions ran through his veins.
The 64-year-old told, "I’m sorry to be leaving BA after so many years, but equally glad that she will be remaining in the airline to continue our legacy, and doing a job I know she has the same passion and enthusiasm for as I do," the Press Association reported.
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Miss Woodruffe, 35, a mother-of-two explained that the mutual understanding between then helped them in the cockpit as they are ‘familiar with each other and communication is very easy’.
Always professional at the flight deck, the pair, hails from Horsham, West Sussex, operated around a dozen flights together for BA.
Kat, on the other hand, is a senior first officer. Her reaction to his last fly was ‘wonderful’.
She said, "Dad and flying have influenced my life massively, so it’s really special to have been with him at the end of his amazing career."
"I promised him I will carry on the good Woodruffe name!"
Like her father, Kat was confident at the age of 12, that she would follow in her father’s footsteps.
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"My GCSEs and A-levels were picked in order to help me into aviation, dad insisted on physics and maths, and I used to go away with him on his trips as much as possible. This wasn’t a chore of course, it involved spending an inordinate amount of my childhood in the paradise islands of Barbados, Grand Cayman and Tobago," Kat explained.
Well, when you have someone to encourage you to fulfil your ambition, nothing gets in the way.
Pic credit: Metro.co.uk
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