22-year-old pilot flies commercial jet with father as captain and mother in cabin crew

Amsterdam: A young pilot flew a commercial jet alongside her father as captain for the first time – while her mother worked in the cabin crew on the same flight.

22-year-old Zoë de Bruijn took to the skies with both her parents aboard Dutch airline KLM flying out of Amsterdam.

The unique family shift came as a surprise, with none of the three initially realising their schedules would put them on the same flight.

Zoë grew up watching her father head off in his pilot’s uniform to far-flung destinations, which inspired her own love of aviation.

In August, she found herself sitting alongside him in the cockpit while her mother Marjan looked after passengers just a few metres away.”It felt amazing to finally share the experience of flying with both my parents,” Zoë said.

“It was such a wonderful experience. My parents met while working on a flight, so it really felt like a full circle moment.”Her father Michel has been a pilot for 35 years since completing his training in 1992. Fascinated by his career from an early age, Zoë excelled in math and science before deciding to follow in his footsteps.

“I remember my dad’s job seemed so mysterious, because I would never know where he was flying to. Then as I got older and visited him at work, I fell in love with it.”

Zoë attended the KLM Flight Academy after being accepted at just 17. Since graduating two years later, she has flown with her father five times and once with her mother – but August marked the first time all three were on the same aircraft together.