King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands beamed as he jumped at the opportunity to get in the pilot’s seat of an army plane on Thursday. 

The Dutch monarch is a licensed pilot and attended the international airborne exercise Falcon Leap at Eindhoven Air Base. 

Decked out in military uniform, complete with a Dutch flag patch on his upper arm, the 58-year-old was all smiles as he captained the aircraft.

The yearly event brings together military personnel from countries all over the world, including the USA and UK, to practise their flying skills. 

Service members run through exercises such as preparing and dropping cargo like relief supplies and conduct drops of paratroopers with planes from different countries.

Willem-Alexander greeted personnel and joined them in their practice exercises on the ground and in the air. 

He stood with servicemen in the cargo hold and even teetered very close to the edge when sending off two paratroopers about to perform a drop. 

In the cockpit, he operated the cargo plane wearing a headset to communicate with his copilot and ground control. 

This isn’t the first time Willem-Alexander has been seen making use of his pilot licence as he’s been known to fly himself to international royal engagements on numerous occasions. 

In March, the King flew himself and his wife Queen Maxima to Cyprus for a state visit.

Willem-Alexander, who obtained his Private Pilot’s Licence in 1985 and Commercial Pilot’s Licence two years later, flew the aircraft and was photographed sitting in the plane’s cockpit upon arrival. 

In 2022, the monarch again flew himself and the Queen to Sweden for their three-day state visit. 

He shocked passengers when he announced he was co-piloting a schedule flight to Turkey in 2018.

The King was the co-pilot on duty on KLM flight 1613 from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. 

Only the KLM crew were notified in advance of the king’s appearance on the Boeing 737-800 flight, which took two hours and 50 minutes. 

However, some passengers recognised the royal when they boarded the aircraft. 

Passenger Can Unsalan said: ‘It is not every day you are piloted by a king. It will be an unforgettable memory for me.’

He said he was ‘a bit concerned’ knowing that King Willem-Alexander is a part-time pilot only, but said that both the take-off and landing were ‘good’ and that he ‘wrote him a letter, thanking him’.

All 131 passengers were eventually notified on landing that the pilot on the flight was the Dutch king.

The king also flew the return journey from Istanbul back to Amsterdam, according to reports.

It has emerged earlier that Willem-Alexander had been quietly flying for KLM for more than 20 years.

The monarch – who succeeded his mother Beatrix on the Dutch throne in 2013 – has frequently captained his own royal plane, formerly a Fokker 70, when going on state visits abroad. 

As those hours in the sky were not enough to get his licence, he agreed with national airline KLM to fly to European destinations with the airline’s Fokker 70s.

The Fokkers were later discontinued and the Dutch government bought a new Boeing 737 to be converted into a royal plane for 2019, forcing the king to get a new licence.

Willem-Alexander has previously said he is rarely recognised by passengers in his uniform, especially since security was tightened on board planes in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

He said: ‘Before September 11, the cockpit door was open. People regularly came to have a look and thought it was nice or surprising that I was sitting there.’

KLM also uses its Boeing 737 to fly to many British destinations such as London, Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow.