I had to excerpt the article due to restrictions from the source website. Just click on the link to read the whole story.
Posted on 08/09/2013 10:48:04 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
FURIOUS passengers staged a sit-down protest on a BA jet after enduring two 'terrifying' aborted flights to London in 24 hours.
About 70 refused to leave the plane for five hours as it sat on the runway in Saudi Arabia in temperatures of 50C yesterday.
Passengers had screamed and been physically sick as the Heathrow-bound Boeing 747 had to turn round and make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff when its wing flaps jammed on Wednesday.
Astonishingly, when they boarded the same plane yesterday the same problem occurred and they had to return to the capital Riyadh again.
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In the terminal there was 'mayhem' as just one BA worker tried to deal with more than 300 passengers while other ground crew 'hid' in a back office, said passenger Dean Jones. "Fights broke out and the military turned up," he added.
"We were furious they put us back up in the plane when they knew there was a serious problem. BA customer relations have been useless."
Flight 262 had been due to leave King Khalid International at 12.40am on Wednesday (local time) but was delayed for five hours. It was in the air for about 40 minutes before the pilot announced there was problem with the wing flaps and they would have to return to the airport after dumping fuel.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
I had to excerpt the article due to restrictions from the source website. Just click on the link to read the whole story.
British Airways flight from hell: Panic and fighting as plane makes TWO emergency landings9 Aug 2013 21:00
Travellers said tempers erupted after the second unscheduled touchdown and paramedics were called to treat injuries.
Horrified passengers have revealed there was panic and brawling during a nightmare BA flight that was forced to make two emergency landings.
Travellers said tempers erupted after the second unscheduled touchdown and paramedics were called to treat injuries.
Passengers were furious that the Britain-bound jet had to turn back to the airport in Saudi Arabia twice for the same fault.
Sean Casey, one of the 300 people on board the Boeing 747, said: “I feel BA put 300 lives at risk by putting us on the same plane 24 hours after trying to fix a fault.”
The first time around, Flight 262 took off from Saudi capital Riyadh on Wednesday following a five-hour delay.
After 40 minutes in the air, it had to turn back because of a wing flap problem.
Passenger Dean Jones said: “We came back to Riyadh very fast and low over the city.
"There was screaming and crying. We hit the runway with a massive bang.”
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Guaranteed: It didn’t take “30 minutes” for the crew to figure out they had a flap problem after takeoff!
“Guaranteed: It didn’t take “30 minutes” for the crew to figure out they had a flap problem after takeoff!”
For sure. But as long as the flaps are not asymetrically jammed, it’s not a critical emergency. So they have plenty of time to make sure to comply with the specific emergency procedure for this special case. Notify ATC, check hydraulic pressure, switch hydraulic circuits to alternate hydraulic pump, dump fuel (might take a lot of time depending on how much fuel needs to get dumped), rebalance the plane while dumping fuel by pumping fuel from one fuel tank to another, ...
What are they complaining about? It could have been a lot worse, they could have been put onto a Screamliner instead, and jammed flaps would have been the least of their worries.
They were probably more pissed at being back in Riyadh than anything else..
In’shallah
Boeing has been in the news a lot recently. Even if this turns out to be an airline maintenance issue it looks bad.
Flaps on big jets have mechanical links that freeze their position if a significant asymmetry is sensed during movement (stopping before the asymmetry is enough to notice). But then the flaps are frozen in position which explains their return to the same airport. If the flaps are frozen in a near- retracted position then the approach speeds will be much higher than normal (even after dumping fuel), leading to other problems such as landing distances too long for available runways, high angle-of-attack approaches at high air speeds, hot brakes, and possibly even blown tires.
The nature and seriousness of the problem was likely unknown to the passengers.
Maybe the passengers who stayed on the airplane had been drinking and were afraid their alcohol consumption would be noticed by the Saudi authorities if the got off the airplane!
A load of dullards in a call center were never going to be anything else.
I know, the flaps shouldn’t go asymetric, but sometimes they just do. http://avherald.com/h?article=45a126c3
“Riyadh, the golden, with milk and honey blest.” Or as “Scoop” Jackson used to say, “Ridyah.”
But if the solution is to land the plane, why not land it at its destination after burning off the fuel for a purpose rather than dumping it?
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They don’t sell WD-40 in Saudi Arabia?
You know how ornery those Saudi businessmen can be, when they are waiting to leave Saudi airspace so they can start drinking.
Sounds like they could have gotten to a civilized country like Israel, where there would have been a chance of getting it fixed, rather than returning to a stone age society.
What are they complaining about? Third takeoffs a charm.
What are they complaining about? Third takeoffs a charm.
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