Pilots fired for letting Playboy model take selfies in cockpit

LOS ANGELES -- Two Austral Airlines pilots were fired after they let a Playboy model join them in the cockpit and take selfies during a recent flight.

Model Vicki Xipolitakis posted photos on Twitter, showing her posing with the two pilots.

At one point, the model was even allowed to increase the throttle during takeoff.

The pilots posed with Xipolitakis for selfies, with their backs to the controls.

"She should have never been in the cockpit in the first place, stupid to be taking selfies. You don't want your taxi driver texting while you're driving. So you don't want your airline pilot taking selfies while you're airborne," said Steve Ganyard, ABC News aviation consultant.

Apparently Argentinian Airlines, the owner of Astral, agreed. After the model posted photos and video on social media, both pilots were fired. Xipolitakis has been banned from the airline for five years.

Now all three may face criminal charges for putting the lives of the passengers in danger.

It's the kind of negligence passengers on U.S. airlines don't have to worry about.

"The level of professionalism in U.S. pilots is so far beyond this. It's highly unlikely that something like this would happen in the U.S.," Ganyard said.