AN EasyJet pilot has admitted she tricks passengers by turning on the fasten seatbelt sign to give the air hostesses a break – and that she reads a newspaper for most of her flight.
Emma Henderson says it's a well-known tactic captains use to give the flight crew a break from tending to boozy stag dos and nervous passengers.
Mum-of-three Emma, who has flown passengers around the world with the budget airline for more than 10 years, reveals her flight deck secrets in ITV's new series easyJet: Inside The Cockpit, which airs on Thursday at 9pm.
From vomiting passengers to 150mph turbulence, easyJet pilots have really seen it all.
'I trick them with the seatbelt sign'
With only six members of cabin crew on flights, Emma tells Sun Online that captains have to resort to secret ways of allowing the team breaks when they can.
"I'll turn the seat belt signs on to keep passengers in their seats," says the captain, who has 27 years of flying experience under her belt.
"Sometimes it's easier for us to eat than the cabin crew as they're on their feet the whole time."
Emma says that she doesn't like leaving the cockpit during a flight and will try to go to the toilet at the airport on shorter journeys.
However, on longer flights she has to go through an intense process to use the loo.
"I have to tell the cabin crew I need to go," Emma explains.
"Then one of them will have to sit in flight deck with the other pilot while I use the toilet."
She reveals that while take off and landing can be frantic, most of the flight is usually very boring.
"After you're at cruising altitude and you've made sure you're going in the right direction, there's downtime," she says.
'I'll read a paper for most of the flight'
"On a short flight there may only be time to eat a sandwich," says Emma.
"But on longer flights you can dip in and out of a newspaper.
"You don't want to be doing something too engrossing though, like reading a book or watching a programme on an iPad, because you have to always be alert to the flight."
Emma also reveals pilots spend a lot of time just gazing out of the window.
'Her vomit splattered me'
On one flight in tomorrow night's programme, Emma is forced to take charge in the cabin when an Italian passenger at Pisa airport is hit with claustrophobia and won't take her seat.
As she reassures the woman that she'll be safe in London in no time, the passenger suddenly faints on her and begins being violently sick.
"I need first aid," Emma is heard calling out, before the woman is carefully helped off the flight.
The pilot reveals that she ended up covered in vomit.
'Turbulence can turn dangerous if you don't strap yourself in'
An hour into a flight from Gatwick, Emma experiences turbulence that she says she has "never seen" from winds battering the plane at 150 miles an hour.
With millions of planes a year affected by turbulence and a hundred passengers injured during that time, the cabin crew take it very seriously.
Emma announces on the overhead speaker: "Cabin crew please take your seats immediately."
To avoid the worst bumps, she increases the thrust so the plane climbs above the turbulence.
'Our noise-cancelling headphones keep the hen dos out'
"If I have to ask cabin crew to put trolleys away and take their seats immediately, that's really as bad as it gets," she says.
"The reason we strap people down is so they don't walk around and get injured."
She also says pilots have a clever way of blocking out the sound of rowdy passengers.
"The flight deck is quite loud so we wear headsets that are noise cancelling meaning you can't hear a lot in the back," she explains.
"You've got to be extra aware if you've got a couple of hen dos and stags going to a party island in the summer and plan how to handle it as a team," the pilot adds." Sometimes people have to be removed."
'Going into Amsterdam yesterday, we had to do it orally'
With more than 4,000 pilots on EasyJet's roster, they often meet for the first time on a job and a lot of the flight can be spent getting to know each other.
On another flight, Emma lands in Amsterdam with first officer Rachel – who says she stacked shelves to save up the £120k for flight school.
But in a hilarious blunder, the women take 30 minutes to park the plane.
The captain manages to miss the right turning to her allotted space, leaving them pointing in completely the wrong direction.
Next, the traffic controller tells them to go "anti-clockwise" only for Emma to go clockwise.
"They must hate us," Rachel laughs.
'We couldn't park the plane – but it's not because we're women'
"Ladies and gentlemen they're really teasing us this morning," she announces on the overhead speaker.
"I promise it's not because we've got two girls up front that we're going round the houses this morning."
Emma – who was one of just 400 female captains in world when she got the top job – reveals that people are "surprised" when they find out it's a woman flying the plane.
She had her first flying lesson aged 18 as a birthday present from her parents, and studied to become a pilot when her three children were 20 months, three years and five years.
The mum is one of just 4.77 per cent of airline pilots in the UK who are female.
She reveals people often make sexist comments like "who parked it then?" or "well done on the landing" to her.
"It's important for little girls to see that women can fly planes and I'm glad I can help perceptions change," she adds.
easyJet: Inside The Cockpit begins tomorrow (May 2), 9pm on ITV
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