Airplane captain surprises son with flight back from deployment

A soldier returning from deployment got quite a sweet surprise thanks to a clever plan from his father.

Capt. Mario Lopes, a Washington D.C.-based pilot with United Airlines, learned that his son, First Lt. Mario Lopes, was scheduled to return from Kuwait on April 14. When he learned that there was an opportunity to pilot a military flight to Norfolk, Virginia, on the same day, he knew he had to seize it.

"I told my wife that this couldn't be a coincidence," he said. "No one could confirm or deny if he would actually be a passenger on my aircraft, but I knew I had to take the chance and find out."

When the day of the flight came, Lopes briefed the crew about his plan to surprise his son and asked for their help in distracting him.

Read the full story on abcnews.com.