Ever hear of a king having the common touch?
Here’s a great example. For the last 21 years, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, 50, has been secretly co-piloting planes for the Dutch airline KLM. The king has been co-piloting the short-haul services twice a month, often with KLM Captain Maarten Putman. He ascended to the throne in 2013.
Perceptive travelers might have guessed who their co-pilot was, as he updated them on weather conditions and their time of arrival, but news of the king’s long-time presence was not publicly revealed until now.
Now that the airline is phasing out its fleet of Fokker 70 planes in favor of Boeing 737s, the king will have to be retrained. Last month the Dutch government revealed the king had flown for both the government and KLM Cityhopper service; Cityhopper flights generally transport business travelers, largely in the UK, Germany and Norway.
King Willem-Alexander described flying as his “hobby,” admitting that for him flying the planes was “relaxing.” He said he doesn’t plan to learn how to pilot larger planes for longer flights that would require him to stay away from the Netherlands overnight, because that would mean he “cannot get back in time to the Netherlands in case of an emergency”.
He joked to De Telegraaf newspaper about his anonymity, “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.” He added, “For me the most important thing is that I have a hobby for which I need to concentrate completely. You have an airplane, passengers and a crew. You carry responsibility for that. You cannot take your problems from the ground with you in the sky. You can for a brief moment disconnect and concentrate on something else. That is the biggest relaxation of flying to me.”