FLYING is a family affair for a retiring airline pilot who celebrated his final flight with a few special passengers on board.

Captain Dave Eadon from Lymm was completing the last checks for his Easyjet flight EZY610 from Belfast to Liverpool when his two grandchildren rushed into the cockpit to surprise him.

Dave’s family had flown in the day before to make sure the 60-year-old’s last day at work was one he would never forget.

He said: “Seeing my family sitting there on the aircraft waiting to be flown back to Liverpool on my last ever flight gave me one of the nicest surprises I’ve ever had.”

But he revealed that fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming a pilot was not straightforward and he overcame a number of challenges.

Dave said: “Some people want to be doctors or firemen but I just wanted to fly planes.

“I could fly a plane before I could drive a car.”

Although Dave learned to fly when he was in his teens, when he first applied to join the RAF he was told he was too young.

He went on to do a gliding scholarship and studied for a degree in metallurgy, which looks at the properties of metals, as well as joining a flying club.

Dad-of-three Dave worked for the British Steel Corporation before landing his first job as a pilot with a missionary group in Australia.

He said: “Flying over the Outback was the most amazing flying experience.

“It’s so different to flying over built up areas because you are in the middle of nowhere.

“The challenge was navigating - there was no GPS at that time so your skills had to be up to it.

“It was all about maps and looking out the window. It was a wonderful experience, the scenery is some of the most fantastic in the world.”

When he returned to the UK, Dave worked for Loganair before going for a job with Easyjet in 2000.

But it was not your average job interview.

Television crews were filming the fly on the wall show The Airline when Dave was offered the job and he appeared in several episodes which showed how pilots are trained at the company.

Dave was based at Liverpool and when his daughter, Sarah, began working as a member of cabin crew for the company the pair would often work together on routes across Europe.

He said: “The only difference is that when the cabin crew ask if you want tea or coffee, Sarah would already know.

“The cabin crew have always been like family to me anyway. It’s a big family up there in the air.”

He revealed that some of the most challenging shifts involved landing the plane at Innsbruck and Gibraltar airports, where the mountainous terrain and fast-moving weather can leave pilots with few options.

“You can’t afford to drop your guard, it’s quite exciting,” he said.

“I just enjoy the challenge and we do lots of training for it.

“The only diversion I have had was for a medical emergency. A passenger was unresponsive but we had a nurse on the cabin crew and we were able to land within 15 minutes.

“You are trained for the unusual and it’s good to know that the training works.

“I wouldn’t say being a pilot is a stressful job but it can be long hours because it’s shift work.

“It’s a great profession. But it can be tough, hard work. The thing that is going to get you furthest is passion.

“It’s difficult and expensive to get into but you have to stay committed and work hard.”

But after 42 years in the sky, Dave is now looking forward to spending a bit more time with his feet on the ground with his family and friends.