Mexico City, Mexico - The pilot of an airplane flying between Cancun and Mexico City was fired after he let a famous Mexican singer sit down in his seat and gave her the command of the plane.

A company spokesman for Magnicharters, which operates domestic flights out of Mexico City, confirmed that the captain allowed Esmeralda Ugalde, sister of the Latin Grammy Award winner Ana Barbara, and her female friend Samadhi Zendejas, enter the cockpit while the plane was in the air and proceeded to pose for photographs.

Pop singer Esmeralda Ugalde has the kind of looks that makes guys do dumb things.

One of the pictures showed Miss Ugalde sitting in the captain's seat, pouting for the camera while apparently flying the plane. The imprudent pilot even gave her his hat to wear.

He was "busted" when Ugalde, 23, shared a photo the captain had taken of her with her 40,000 followers on Twitter. The photo then went viral on the Internet and eventually came to the attention of the airline.

Miss Zendejas initially attempted to defend the captain, who has not been named, by saying she and Miss Ugalde had only been in the cockpit while the aircraft was on the ground. But the pilot had already admitted the photograph had been taken in the air, and was subsequently fired.

"We cannot allow a pilot to make this kind of mistake, it is just not allowed. Even if the autopilot was working it is not allowed to do something like this. We cannot even allow people to enter the cabin, even if they are actors or actresses," the Magnicharters spokesman said.

"We are a serious company and we are deeply saddened about the fact that one of our staff behaved in this way. Flight law dictates visitors are not allowed to enter the cabin during the flight."