Alaska Airlines hires identical twin pilots

One of Alaska Airlines’ recent hires gave them a double take: pilots who are identical twin brothers. The Nigerian-born brothers hope one of them will earn a promotion to captain so they can share a cockpit.

Alex and his brother Alan are thought to be Alaska Airlines’ first encounter with two identical twin pilots. Alan just finished his simulator training and will be joining the airline based in San Francisco, while his brother Alex is based in Los Angeles.

The two brothers have their parents to thank for their love of aviation – from the age of three, their Dad would take them plane-spotting every Sunday, and their mother would bring them along on business trips abroad.

Alaska Airlines was Alan’s first choice when he was planning to move on from regional airlines. Working for the same airline as his brother was also enticing.

So how likely is it that you will see the two brothers flying an aircraft together? Well, because of the complexity of Alaska’s operations, it is not common for pilots who also happen to be family members to fly together, especially as the two identical twin brothers are both First Officers. However, the brothers do wish to experience that.

Alex commented on that: “We’ve never flown together professionally because we’ve always been on different aircraft. The goal is to have one of us upgrade to captain and be operating the same aircraft so we can fly together.”

Once they do get to fly together, the two brothers have one special request – getting their Mum on board: “We have to get her on one of our flights.” travelradar.aero