'This is your captain speaking... my co-pilot's my little girl': Father and his 30-year-old daughter fly together on Thomas Cook flight to Tenerife
- Captain Peter Elliott has worked as pilot for Thomas Cook for over 30 years
- He inspired his daughter Laura to join and learn to fly herself in 2009
- She flew Airbus and her father Boeings so working together was unlikely
- Fluke in the roster meant father and daughter shared cockpit this month
- Mr Elliott made announcement to passengers that it was a special flight
- He told those travelling to Tenerife he was flying with his daughter
After 30 years as a pilot, Captain Peter Elliott got to fly with a co-pilot he knew more than most.
The pilot, who has clocked up more than 15,500 hours of flying during his career, made a special announcement to passengers travelling from Birmingham to Tenerife to tell them he was flying with his daughter.
Senior First Officer Laura Elliott has been flying for six years but has never before got to work her father who first inspired her to fly when she was 18.
Captain Peter Elliott (left) and his daughter Senior First Officer Laura Elliott flew together for the first time
Mr Elliott inspired his daughter (pictured with her father as a child) to take to the skies when she was just 18
'It's a dream come true to be able to fly with my Dad - even if he was still checking up on me,' said Laura of Birmingham in the West Midlands.
The father-daughter pairing at the controls was a fluke but Miss Elliott said she hopes she will be able to fly with her father again before he retires.
It had seemed unlikely the pair would ever co-pilot the same aircraft because Miss Elliott learned to fly on Airbus planes when she joined the company in 2009, and her father flew Boeings.
However when Miss Elliott took a break from Thomas Cook to work for another company her father retrained to work on the Airbus fleet and the pair were able to co-pilot their first flight.
Miss Elliott, 30, became interesting in flying when her father got her a trial flight for her 18th birthday.
She said: 'Becoming a pilot was never something I had considered, even though Dad had been a pilot since before I was born.
The father and daughter flying team made their dream a reality after Mr Elliott trained to fly an Airbus
Mr Elliott told passengers aboard the Airbus that the flight on February 6 was a special one for him
Miss Elliott (pictured in yellow headband) said she had never thought about flying until she went on a trial
'It was only when my Dad bought me trial flight as a birthday present that I got the bug.
'But I was already preparing to go to university so I headed off to study sport and exercise science like I'd always planned.
'It was only when I graduated four years later that I considered following in my Dad's footsteps.
'I applied for a flying course and spent 14 months in southern Spain getting my license and then started with Thomas Cook in 2009.
Miss Elliott has been flying for six years and her father (right) has more than 20 years experience as a pilot
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