Sky Bus 365 Pilot

The Sky Bus 365 pilot also referred to as Captain or simply as Pilot (機長), is an unnamed character introduced in Toaru Majutsu no Index. He is the pilot of the Sky Bus 365 during the terrorist incident in its flight on October 17. A man who bears the responsibility of 500 lives on his plane, his slow and careful method in handling the terrorist incident comes into conflict with Kamijou Touma.

Appearance
He is described as having black hair that is cut short, and had swarthy skin, apparently because he is Japanese. As a captain of the flight, he is shown wearing a white military uniform.

Personality
He is very professional, and is very rational when dealing with a terrorist threat, knowing that he bears the life of 500 lives. With this, he makes sure him and his crews' actions are discreet when dealing with the threat. Willing to isolate a single individual from the passengers in order to prevent panic and chaos. However, he is also callous and unsympathetic, as shown after he finds Kamijou Touma after he just discovered that the terrorist hurt Index, willingly wanting to put the both of them in lock down.

He has shown to carry a grudge, as shown when he is willing to identify Touma as a terrorist and attack him after punching him. And even if after Touma defeated one, Touma believes he would be uncooperative in finding the second terrorist. He is also quite utilitarian, willing to sacrifice in the hands of Musset if he can save the rest of them in an emergency landing.

Background
Not much is known of him, though he speaks both Japanese and French fluently. He is likely skilled enough to wield the Archery. Moreover, if the Sky Bus 365 flight attendant is any indication, as he is a member of the crew as well, he is likely trained in hand-to-hand combat.

British Royal Family Arc
He is first shown in the cockpit talking to a security officer from Academy City regarding the terrorist threat against the airliner. Earlier he had ordered for the flight attendant with the nice body to print out the report by the air traffic control regarding the e-mail which contains flight numbers. The pilot communicates with a security officer from Academy City regarding the terror threat, with the latter concluding that the terrorists will move in the time between the airliners flight from Paris to Edinburgh, which was 40 minutes to an hour, and that they are prepared to commit suicide as well. The pilot suggests turning back to Paris, but the security officer states that he will be noticed and that he can't make a gradual enough turn as there isn't enough spare fuel. The pilot discovers that he and the crew is alone in finding the terrorist before they make their move and all the while have to keep it a secret from the passengers lest chaos and panic erupts.

Later, after the flight attendant subdues Touma after he discovers the blood the flight attendant that was attacked by the terrorist, she calls for the pilot. The pilot later arrives and says that Touma should be separated from the other passengers. The flight attendant protests, saying that though they have to ensure the safety of the passengers, there is really no need for them to confine Touma. Despite this, the pilot doesn't believe will not panic and blurt out the information that he knows if he is returned to his seat, and reprimands the flight attendant for not thinking it through. The pilot says that he should be confined until the situation is resolved, and as thanks for his cooperation will be refunded. Touma protests as well, asking if they can handle it on their own and offers his services. The pilot says that they are also confining him to prevent him from interfering, as he cannot let an amateur like Touma handle the situation where 500 and more passengers' lives are in stake. With that the captain says that it is his responsibility to take care of the passengers and Touma has no reason to take on the responsibility. He later gestures to the flight attendant to put Touma in the in-flight meal heating area. There, Touma recalls what the flight attendant had said regarding the Air Bus 365's defect when the master recorder is infected, though is unable to do anything but wait for the door to be opened.

Later, after Touma clashes with the terrorist Musset, the captain and the flight attendant gets alerted by the commotion. Arriving there, they find Touma with an unconscious Index. Touma asks them about the flight stabilizers, to which the pilot explains. He essentially states that the emergency landing stabilizers prevent the jet fuel of the plane from exploding when in a belly landing. Now having an inkling of the terrorists' plans, the pilot once again plans to chuck Touma in a room along with Index, separate from the rest of the passengers in order to prevent them from panicking. As the pilot goes on about his "duty" to protect the lives of the passengers, Touma is infuriated by it. Touma attacks the pilot with the metal handle, knocking him backwards. He points out that him going along with his plans is what allowed Index to get attacked and that he already failed in his promise of protecting the 500 passengers of the plane by letting get hurt. Intending to beat up the terrorist, Touma tosses away the metal handle and leaves Index in the hands to the flight attendant as he goes to the staircase where the terrorist disappeared to, promising to beat him up until he passes out. After Touma leaves, the pilot then contacts one of the co-pilots, Wash, to leave the piloting to Richmond, and bring the Archery to him. This shocks the flight attendant, as the pilot justifies his request that Touma has become as dangerous as a terrorist. It is later delivered to him.

Before the captain can use it however, Touma turns on an alarm switch that makes the oxygen masks fall from the ceiling, unnerving Musset. At the same as this, the pilot is also infuriated by the alarm, and tells the co-pilots to stop it and tell the passengers that it was a false alarm. As he prepares to hunt down Touma and the terrorist, before he could do so, the co-pilots tell him that the fuel gauge is going down and that there might be a hole in the tank, requesting for him to return to the cockpit, as well as telling him that they may need to do an emergency landing. With this, the pilot is forced to return to the cockpit, unbeknownst to them the fuel gauge was being manipulated by Necessarius to force it to make an emergency landing and allowing them to eliminate the terrorists.

The unnerved Musset later makes contact with the cockpit using a microphone after noticing that the plane is going for an emergency landing even before he can tamper with the emergency landing stabilizers. There, he bluffs to the captain that he has control over the Sky Bus 365's structural defect and he can bring down the plane any time he wants. He then demands that if he doesn't want the 500 people onboard to die then the pilot should take them back to the proper altitude. Despite this the pilot says that he cannot do it, confessing to the terrorist what he thinks is happening to the plane. The terrorist threatens again, saying that he will kill passengers one by one after 3 minutes if they still don't follow his demands. Despite this, the pilot is adamant in continuing for an emergency landing, saying that even if the terrorist kill half of the passengers, there is still plenty left if he is able to land.

In spite of the pilot's intentions, someone from Scotland has sealed their long distance illusion magic. This then allowed the pilot to return to their proper altitude. The pilot would later stay there for the duration of the flight, even after Touma defeated and tied Musset the terrorist.

Later, during Touma and the second terrorists' struggle in the cargo hold, he and the two co-pilots, see a Royal Air Force transport plane fly dangerously close to the plane. They would later get to witness the spreading of runes from the plane, though it is not known if they saw Stiyl Magnus do so, in the air to use against the second terrorist Eiker Lugoni.

In spite of the damage incurred by the plane due to Stiyl making a hole in the cargo to hit Eiker, the pilots are able to land the plane safely with all passengers and crew as well as the terrorists surviving.

Quotes

 * (To Touma, from Volume 17): "Listen. There are over 500 passengers on this aircraft. The terrorist hiding among them has all of those lives in his grasp. In a situation like this, we can’t have an amateur like you going around as he please causing trouble."