Yishai Aviram, the fighter pilot who sat in the cockpit with missing navigator Ron Arad before Arad was captured almost 31 years ago, has performed his last flight as a passenger pilot for El Al Israeli Airlines, according to Yediot Ahronot. More than 65 years old, the retired lieutenant colonel will continue as a flight instructor.
The milestone comes less than a week before the anniversary of the October 16, 1986 incident over Lebanon when the two were forced to eject from their Phantom after fire exploded under its belly. Unlike Arad, Aviram avoided capture by terrorists on the ground and was rescued.