10-year-old boy appointed to test Virgin Atlantic planes

A 10-year-old boy from Chichester, West Sussex, has been chosen to become Virgin's Junior Approvals Manager - and his first job was to test and approve the airline's newly refurbished Boeing 747 leisure fleet at Gatwick Airport.

Plane-obsessed Billy Yeomans was chosen from more than 600 applicants after he impressed judges by creating his own plane cabin in his family home, collecting more than 30 aeroplane safety cards and navigating his dad on a flight to Switzerland.

He was given free reign of the plane for a day, so he took full advantage of the in-flight entertainment system, taste-tested the new menu and tried out the new seats. He will now submit a full report to Sir Richard.

Billy said: "I gave the plane a really through inspection and could've sat for hours watching movies and playing on the games. Even the food was quite tasty although it doesn't beat my Mum's home cooking. When I grow up I'd love to be a pilot."

Billy will now give a kid's eye view on all on-board improvements and will be a sounding board for all child-focused developments.

Sir Richard Branson said: "As a child I was made about planes and the sense of adventure and excitement of being in the sky. We wanted to find someone who feels the same way as I still do about flying. Billy was the perfect young man for the job and he is going to be giving our newly refitted 747s the once over; watching films, eating our food and rating our wonderful cabin crew. Hopefully he'll have great fun doing it too."

Click on the image below to see a video of Billy's first day on the job...

Related articles:

Woman sues Virgin after suitcase fell on her head

Virgin announces free space flight for person with most air miles