Cathay Pacific recently took delivery of its 6th B777-300ER which was painted in the special "Asia's World City" Livery. CX Boeing777 Chief Pilot, Captain Ian Wilkinson was at the helm of the delivery flight back to Hong Kong from Boeing's plant with the Chairman and CEO of the group and other government officials onboard. The Captain took off from Paine Field, did a turn-around, and with the clearance of the local Air Traffic Control, performed a fly-by at a height of just approximate 30feet from the ground with all landing gears retracted. It was said that fly-bys were not unusual for new deliveries as a gesture of appreciation to the plant workers for the work put in for the new aircraft.
HOWEVER, this pilot was shortly sacked with immediate effect as he had actually failed to obtain clearance from Cathay Pacific itself. Gee. He sure had guts. Captain Wilkinson had the Chairman, CEO and other high-level officials onboard and he performed that fly-by without proper authorisation from the company. After all, it's the company's aircraft he's flying, and for goodness sake, that's a USD270million piece of machine he's 'playing'. Not that the manoeuvre was dangerous but you don't just fool around with a multi-million dollar machine without permission and get away with it.
