When was the last time you paid attention to the voice of the captain manning your flight? Well, you may want to hereafter, if you do not want to be surprised like the people of Netherlands were - when their King revealed his alter-ego as a co-pilot for a commercial airline.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander has been flying passengers twice a month for the last 21 years for KLM, while passengers have been blissfully unaware of the presence of the royalty in the cockpit.
In an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the King revealed his secret as having been the co-pliot to the fleet of Fokker 70 planes being flown by the airlines, which are now being phased out.
The royal plans on learning to fly the new Boeing 737 to be brought in by the airline, so as to continue as a guest pilot with the company. He is keen on flying only smaller planes, as they allow him to get back to the country in case of an emergency.
the 50-year-old monarch calls his flying habit a 'hobby', something that he resorts to as a 'relaxation activity' from his royal duties. While it was public knowledge about the King being a guest-pilot before his coronation in 2013, the fact that he continued to fly twice a month was unknown.
On having kept his second identity undercover for so long, the King was quoted as saying:
The advantage is that I can always say I am speaking on behalf of the captain and crew to welcome them on board, so I don't have to say my name. But then, most people don't listen anyway.
