Obituaries

Captain Freddy Deneffe, famous for flying with his dog Captain Mac, died at the age of 82

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Captain Freddy Deneffe has died at the age of 82. Since 2002, Freddy enjoyed his retirement after a long career flying on Fokker, British Aerospace and AVRO RJ85/100 aircraft. He was extremely popular with his crew and passengers because of his incredibly sympathetic character, always cheerful and in for a good joke.

Freddy will always be reminded as the captain who took his dog, Captain Mac, with him during his flights around Europe. Captain Mac faithfully sat behind Freddy in the cockpit, quickly leaving the aircraft during rotation to walk his dog.

One flight, about twenty years ago, I will always remember: during approach into Brussels, Captain Mac wondered around in the front galley as he smelled some leftover meat from the business class trays. Perhaps strange but before 2001, the cockpit door was always open. I was more occupied getting Captain Mac back in the cockpit for landing and I forgot to close the door of my catering trolley. Just after touchdown, the door of the trolley opened and all the trays fell on the galley floor. Giggles in the cockpit 😀

Freddy, I will never forget you.

The Aviation24.be-community offers its most sincere condolences to his family and friends, as well as to his colleagues, who will deeply miss him.

This post was published on 7 September 2019 17:01

Bart Noëth

Working for 25 years in the aviation industry, I changed my career and became a firefighter/EMT in 2021. I like to spend my free time with my two sons, girlfriend, family and friends. I love to travel, wine and dine and support my favourite football squad KV Mechelen. Once an Ironman 70.3 finisher and dreaming of completing a full distance.

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Bart Noëth

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