Sir Elton John's private jet was forced into an 'unorthodox' manoeuvre to avoid a collision with a hawk during take-off from Farnborough Airport last month. The 78-year-old singer was aboard his Boeing 737 with his family when pilot Duncan Gillespie spotted the bird of prey diving towards the aircraft.
Gillespie, who has flown Elton John for years, said he made the split-second decision to delay rotation and pass under the hawk, rather than following standard procedure. The aircraft had reached V1 speed (160mph), the point at which take-off is normally mandatory, but the pilot chose to abort the climb to avoid the bird entering the left engine.
In a Facebook post, Gillespie described the incident as a 'dodge a bullet' moment, adding that only a human could have made such a judgment call. He said the manoeuvre saved millions in potential damages and prevented a major incident. 'There’s no way a machine could ever make such a decision,' he wrote.
This is not the first aviation scare for Elton John. In 2022, his private jet suffered a hydraulic failure an hour into a flight to New York, forcing a return to the UK. The plane struggled to land in poor weather, taking three attempts before safely touching down.
