When you’re 35,000 feet in the air, the last thing you want to worry about is whether the pilot is doing his job properly. Which is why netizens are up in arms over a viral photo of a random passenger who was allowed into the cockpit of a plane during a flight in China. While said pilot has paid his dues for this major misstep, he isn’t the only captain who’s landed himself in hot soup for breaking aviation safety rules.

An Air Guilin pilot was recently banned from flying for life after he allowed a passenger into the cockpit on a domestic flight in China from Guilin city to Yangzhou. The incident reportedly happened in January but only went viral recently after the photo of a female passenger in the pilot’s seat — with refreshments laid out next to her, no less — was discovered by an aviation blogger on Weibo last week. “Thanks to the captain. So happy,” captioned the passenger, who’s rumoured to be a cabin crew in training in Guilin.

The airline said in a statement that the pilot had “violated [regulations] by allowing irrelevant personnel into the cockpit” and has banned him from flying for life. “We take a zero-tolerance approach against any improper and unprofessional behaviour that may jeopardise aviation safety.” Other crew involved in the incident have also been “suspended from flying indefinitely”.

He’s not the only pilot who’s gotten into trouble for this reason. Last month, an Egyptian pilot was banned from flying for life when he allowed Egyptian celeb Mohamed Ramadan in the pilot’s seat on a private flight. Last year, a captain with Donghai Airlines who allowed his wife into the cockpit was suspended for six months and had his license revoked.

Photo: Weibo

A Southwest flight attendant has sued the airline, claiming that two pilots had been watching livestream footage of the plane’s bathroom from the cockpit. This happened on a flight from Pittsburgh to Phoenix in Feb 2017. About two-and-a-half hours into the flight, Captain Terry Graham, one of the pilots, had requested a cabin crew to accompany his co-pilot Ryan Russell in the plane’s cockpit when he had to use the bathroom, as company protocol requires two crew members in the cockpit at all times. That was when Renee Steinaker, the flight attendant, noticed an iPad on the plane’s windshield, and that showed Graham in the loo. She asked Russell if the camera was livestreaming from the bathroom, and he allegedly admitted it was streaming from a camera hidden in a spot in the bathroom where “no one would ever find it”, and that the cameras were a new feature on Southwest Airlines’ 737-800 aircraft. The airline has released a statement saying it “does not place cameras in the lavatories of our aircraft”, and that the incident is an “inappropriate” attempt at humour. The airline declined comment on the employment status of both pilots. The case is pending.

Photo: Unsplash

An Air China flight from Hong Kong to Dalian last July plummeted 20,000 feet in 10 minutes, no thanks to the co-pilot on the flight who was smoking an e-cigarette in the cockpit. To prevent the smoke from spreading to the main cabin, he’d attempted to turn off a fan but instead, erroneously turned off the airconditioning unit. This caused a sudden drop in oxygen levels, which then triggered a depressurisation alert and an emergency descent, causing the plane to plunge. Oxygen masks onboard were also deployed. None of the 153 passengers nor the nine crew members were injured. Both pilots have been fired and had their licenses revoked.

Photo: Weibo

You snooze, you lose. A video of a China Airlines pilot taking a nap in the cockpit mid-flight was posted online in February (apparently, the vid was filmed by his co-pilot). The Taiwnese carrier has since punished the napping pilot, and reprimanded his colleague who shot the video. It is unclear exactly what flight this was, but the fatigued captain is said to be a senior pilot with 20 years of experience, and is a short-haul pilot flying to cities like Hongkong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul.

Being able to update your socials at an altitude of 30,000 feet is a treat for most people…unless you’re the captain of the flight, that is. An EasyJet pilot who was posting up a storm on Instagram and Snapchat during a flight from Paris to Madrid last April was fired from his job. Not only did he play around with photo filters superimposed on his selfies (left), he also filmed his co-pilot several times using several different filters (right). After the cockpit antics made its rounds online, it raised concerns over how focused the pilots were on the controls. The captain of the flight was fired, while his co-pilot resigned. “We have clear policies on how we use social media and that is not part of that policy,” said the British low-cost carrier.

Photo: Snapchat