Dutch King Reveals He Moonlighted As A Pilot For Airlines

The Dutch King Willem-Alexander on Wednesday revealed that that even after acceding the throne in 2013, he did not stop performing his duty as an aviation pilot until now.

In an interview published in De Telegraaf newspaper, he said that he recently ended his role as a regular “guest pilot” after 21 years on KLM’s fleet of Fokker 70 planes and before that on Dutch carrier Martinair.

He said flying helped him regain his focus as he was able to, quite literally, fly away from all that was happening on the ground. “You have an aircraft, passengers and crew. You have responsibility for them. You can’t take your problems from the ground into the skies. You can completely disengage and concentrate on something else. That, for me, is the most relaxing part of flying,” the king told De Telegraaf.

As a guest flier, the king worked about twice a month, always as co-pilot. He will now retrain to fly Boeing 737s as the Fokkers are being phased out of service, said the report. The 50-year-old father of three and monarch to 17 million Dutch citizens calls flying a “hobby” that lets him leave his royal duties on the ground and fully focus on something else.

While it is no secret that Willem-Alexander is a qualified pilot who sometimes flew KLM passenger flights, it was not previously clear how frequently it happened. Willem-Alexander said he is rarely recognised by passengers, especially since security was tightened on board planes in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.