Frum Pilot: Volcano Prevented Chilul Shabbos

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david-priceIn the cockpit of an Air France Airbus 330, about an hour after takeoff, on a flight from Paris to Senegal, with the plane safely on auto-pilot, the pilot finishes learning Torah. He then keys his mike: “Good morning! This is your Captain speaking. I hope you are enjoying your flight . . .”Meet David Price, 47, who has the distinction of being one of the only frum commercial pilots in the world.

A native of Paris, Price’s initiation into the world of aviation began when he was just a child. Late one night, his father woke the six-year-old David to watch the first manned lunar landing. For years, the boy dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

Price’s initiation into the world of traditional Judaism happened later. He was eleven years old the first time he set foot in a shul. The year was 1974, and the Yom Kippur War was raging in the Middle East. The chilling news reports inspired Jews around the world, like Price’s mother, to show their solidarity with the Jewish people in Israel. Soon enough, the boy’s mother (his parents had divorced some years prior) began taking on an observant lifestyle, and decided to give her son a Jewish education, which she did.

After graduating high school, David enrolled in flight school in Toulouse. Five years later he became a co-pilot, and ten years later – with two thousand hours of flying time under his belt – he earned his pilot’s wings.

For the last ten years Price has been a transatlantic commercial pilot, flying long routes, which give him, in his own words, “plenty of time to marvel at Hashem’s creation.”

A father of three, Price often takes his wife and daughters on trips to the U.S., and his family enjoys seeing him seated at the controls.

It’s not always easy to be an observant pilot, says Price, who admits he must constantly struggle for his religious rights. French law gives pilots many days off and Price uses to them all for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Even so, he is always careful to check and make sure his isn’t mistakenly assigned a flight that runs into Shabbos. He also takes care to avoid flight assignments that are scheduled for take-off before ten o’clock in the morning, freeing him up to conduct his morning prayers on the ground.

His is not a practical, or ideal choice of a career for an observant Jew, he concedes. But spending much of his time in the skies, he has plenty of opportunity to ponder matters spiritual and existential.

Interviewed during the worst travel disruptions when the volcanic ash cloud recently paralyzed European air travel, the  pilot says the situation served as a useful reminder to him:

“An eruption of this magnitude has not occurred for many tens of years,” he said.”I have no doubt that this is a sign from Heaven, to teach us not to take the fact that the skies are open to us for granted.”

“Besides, an amazing thing happened as a result of the volcano,” the Shabbos-observant pilot says, unable to resist the thought. “Thousands of Jews did not fly on Shabbos . . .”

{Lubavitch.com/Matzav.com Newscenter}


10 COMMENTS

  1. you stated
    who has the distinction of being one of the only frum commercial pilots in the world

    for the reccord – another frum, shomer shabbos commercial pilot (used to fly tower to israel) lives in miami in Tower 41

    forgot his name

  2. i believe the name of the other frum pilot is Charles Dadoun – a wonderful frum yid, who was supposed to fly one of the planes that went down on 9/11….. fascinating story……

  3. Is it really safe to do other things (in this case, learn torah) while the aircraft is on auto pilot? Doesn’t the pilot still have to make sure not to fly into other aircrafts or birds???

  4. He is on his second round of Shas with Daf Yomi and a great Torah Scholar, and he looks like a regular guy. He also loves singing Shabbat Zemitot, we just spent Shabbat together.

  5. Anyone know any other frum pilots with whom I can network? I am a frum pilot trying to break into the airlines and need help with the Yiddushkite issue.
    Thank you.

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