'Fume incident' planes set to go
Monday, October 22, 2007
By Emily Moulton
A particular type of aircraft allegedly linked to a series of incidents
involving contaminated air on a number of Belfast flights, which led to
several cabin crew collapsing, will be removed from our skies by early next
year.
Flybe are withdrawing their BAe 146 fleet and replacing it with the new
Embraer 195 aircraft, which is currently being phased into its overall fleet.
The company says it took a commercial decision several years ago to get rid
of the 146s to reduce the number of aircraft types it operated from three to
two.
However, in the past year, there have been a number of alleged incidents
involving Flybe's 146 fleet.
In September pilots flying a jet out of Belfast needed emergency oxygen
supplies while trying to land after their cabin filled with smoke.
The plane was forced to divert and make an emergency landing on the Isle of
Man with the pilots in danger of being overcome by toxic fumes.
The terrifying incident is currently being probed by the Air Accident
Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport and is one of a number
of so-called "fuming incidents" to affect Flybe's fleet of BAe 146
planes.
Four crew, including the pilots, needed hospital treatment. However, because
it was a re-positional flight, no other passengers were on board.
The Civil Aviation Authority's official report describes the incident as "
serious" and confirms that oxygen masks were required when smoke entered
the cabin and staff were reported as being "incapacitated".
Then just six days later another incident happened.
Two cabin crew, who were onboard a Flybe passenger flight from Belfast to
Birmingham had to be taken to hospital for treatment after becoming sick
when noxious fumes were detected at the front of the BAe 146 plane.
And during a trip from Birmingham to Belfast in July, two stewardesses
collapsed after being overcome by fumes and all seven crew members were
taken to hospital on landing.
In a similar incident on the same route in February, the flight crew had to
use oxygen masks and abort the flight after just 15 minutes. The alleged
incidents have prompted protests from some crew members who say they will
boycott the fleet.
One of the company's pilots told the BBC that if he was asked to fly the 146
he would say "go take a walk".
But a spokeswoman from FlyBe said of the 700 pilots employed at the airline,
not one had refused to fly any of its aircraft.
She also defended the company's safety standards.
"Flybe is completely confident that its aircraft are operated and
maintained to the highest industry standards," she said.
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