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Elton John’s pilot has revealed that he narrowly averted a potential disaster while flying the legendary musician and his family. The 78-year-old icon was en route to Paris aboard his personal Boeing 737 when the crew executed an “unorthodox” maneuver to steer clear of danger.
Pilot Duncan Gillespie took to Facebook to recount a dramatic encounter with a “huge bird of prey” that suddenly swooped toward the plane just as it reached takeoff speed. At 160 mph—the maximum speed at which aborting takeoff is still considered safe—Gillespie faced a split-second decision. He candidly shared his experience, noting that it was the first time he had to make such a critical call, but emphasized it was the only way to prevent a serious incident with the bird and the aircraft’s engine. “For the first time in my flying career, I made the decision to delay getting airborne to pass under the bird,” he explained.
Both Gillespie and his co-pilot were convinced that if they had taken off at the usual point, the hawk would have collided with the left-hand engine. Gillespie remarked, “This is the kind of decision only a human could make; a machine wouldn’t be capable of it.”
Reflecting on the close call, he added, “We dodged a bullet yesterday with the original Rocket Man and his family on board. I’m proud of the very unorthodox procedure we used to avoid a major incident, potentially saving millions of dollars in damages!”
“We dodged a bullet yesterday, with the original Rocket Man and his family on board, and I’m proud of the very unorthodox procedure which we used to avoid a major incident, saving millions of dollars in damages!”
With the post, Duncan also shared footage from inside the cockpit as they dodged out of the way of the bird.
In the video clip, the pilot is heard saying “delay… bird… oh s**t!”
As the aircraft took off, he added: “We’d have whacked,” before his co-pilot responded: “F***ing falcon, that was a big a** bird!”
It isn’t the first time that Elton has been on a plane where the pilot has had to act quickly. In 2022, his private jet suffered hydraulic failure en route to New York, then twice failed to make an emergency landing due to high winds.
When it finally landed, emergency services surrounded the £66million Bombardier Global Express jet.
Reports at the time claimed that the singer was left “shaken” by the incident.