Viral video captures Delta pilot calming nervous flyers with heartwarming promise to his daughter

A viral video captured a Delta Air Lines pilot calming “nervous” passengers with a heartwarming story of his promise to safely return home to buy his young daughter ice cream amid a spike in worrisome air travel chaos.

“I know we have probably quite a few nervous flyers today. It is perfectly understandable,” the pilot told passengers in a TikTok posted Saturday that has since racked up over 12 million views.

A viral video captured a Delta Air Lines pilot calming passengers with a story of his promise to return home safely to buy his young daughter ice cream. TikTok / @sisterhoodwomentravelers

“I want to emphasize this aircraft does not move a single inch unless both my co-captain, Michael, and myself are absolutely certain it is safe to do so,” he continued.

“Before I left the house on this trip, my little one learned the word ‘ice cream,’ and she made me make sure I promised to get her ice cream when I get back home from the trip,” the pilot said.

“That being said, nothing — and I mean absolutely nothing — unsafe comes in between me and that little girl and her ice cream.”

The pilot, identified by Fox8live as Captain Christopher Pennington, then urged flyers to connect to the in-flight wifi and make plans to get ice cream with their loved ones, the clip showed.

The flight was traveling from Atlanta to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina on Thursday. TikTok / @sisterhoodwomentravelers

The flight manned by the heartfelt dad was traveling from Atlanta to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina on Thursday, the outlet reported.

Several TikTok users poured out their admiration for the captain for reassuring flyers during a spate of travel headaches during the historic government shutdown.

“Delta y’all better take care of this champion!” one user wrote.

“He became dad of the plane lol,” another user commented on the clip.

The nation’s longest government shutdown in history has already forced thousands of flight cancellations and will continue to wreak havoc on air travel for days, even if Congress passes a deal.

The number of flights has already been reduced across 40 of the US’s busiest airports due to staffing shortages.

Air traffic controllers — who haven’t been paid for much of the shutdown — have repeatedly called out sick as it dragged into its 41st day.

There were more than 1,700 canceled flights in and out of US airports on Monday alone.