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Last Landings: Twin pilots retire together at Heathrow airport

For Captains Jeremy and Nick Hart, it was the end of an era.

The twin airlines pilots, who have clocked upwards of 45,000 flying hours during their careers, retired on their 60th birthdays by making the symbolic gesture of landing their aircraft together at Heathrow airport.

“Like every aeroplane has its last landing, so does a pilot,” stated Nick.

Jeremy joined British Airways in 1987 and Nick went on board with British Midland back in 2012.

Despite years of experience between them, the brothers admitted that they have always been mistaken for each other.

“Jerry had never mentioned to his colleagues at British Airways that he had a twin brother who flew for British Midland, and one day [years ago] a British Airways pilot strode over to me at Heathrow and asked what on Earth I thought was doing dressing up in a British Midland uniform. It took a bit of explaining to convince him that I wasn’t Jeremy,” added Nick.

Captain Jeremy landed an Airbus A320 at 12:34 BST from Sweden, and Captain Nick landed at 12:35 from Geneva.

As British Airways head Airbus pilot James Basnett said, it was “a fitting finale to a long and impressive careers and I know that they will be sorely missed on the fleet.”