Passenger helps British Airways jet take off at Kazakhstan
David Braithwaite
Sydney Morning Herald
_________________
The girlfriend of an Australian passenger stranded in Kazakhstan after an emergency landing has told how her boyfriend helped the pilot communicate with ground control.
Bo, who asked for her full name to be withheld, spent "the most unrestful 24 hours in my life" at the weekend after discovering that her boyfriend's flight from Sydney to London failed to arrive at its destination.
Bo's boyfriend, who has not been named, was on board British Airways flight BA10, which took off from Sydney airport on Friday afternoon.
After a stop-over in Bangkok, the flight crew noticed a fire warning light in the cockpit.The jet, carrying 354 passengers and 18 crew, was forced to request an emergency landing at the airport of Uralsk, a city in northern Kazakhstan near the border with Russia, the Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.The jet landed safely with no injuries and the warning was found to be a false alarm.However, the jet could not take off again because the runway was too short for the heavily laden Boeing 747.
After arriving in Uralsk, passengers were forced to jump "about two feet from the aircraft door" onto a staircase to get off the plane, according to a report on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network website, an online forum for pilots and airline industry workers.
When the smaller planes finally arrived, passengers were forced to board by stepping onto the roof of an airport vehicle and then onto a stairway, Britain's Press Association news agency reported, quoting a British Airways spokeswoman.
There had been communication difficulties between the British Airways crew and airport staff, Bo said.
"My boyfriend said to me that when they were in Kazakhstan, the pilots and stewards had difficulties communicating with the local authority and he had worked as an interpreter.
"My boyfriend's parents were from Russia and he speaks Russian, too. He also translated those instructions from the control centre to the pilots when the planes were taking off.
"He was helping all the way out for 16 hours in the airport and took the last flight to London".
Apr 17, 2006
David Braithwaite
Sydney Morning Herald
_________________
The girlfriend of an Australian passenger stranded in Kazakhstan after an emergency landing has told how her boyfriend helped the pilot communicate with ground control.
Bo, who asked for her full name to be withheld, spent "the most unrestful 24 hours in my life" at the weekend after discovering that her boyfriend's flight from Sydney to London failed to arrive at its destination.
Bo's boyfriend, who has not been named, was on board British Airways flight BA10, which took off from Sydney airport on Friday afternoon.
After a stop-over in Bangkok, the flight crew noticed a fire warning light in the cockpit.The jet, carrying 354 passengers and 18 crew, was forced to request an emergency landing at the airport of Uralsk, a city in northern Kazakhstan near the border with Russia, the Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.The jet landed safely with no injuries and the warning was found to be a false alarm.However, the jet could not take off again because the runway was too short for the heavily laden Boeing 747.
After arriving in Uralsk, passengers were forced to jump "about two feet from the aircraft door" onto a staircase to get off the plane, according to a report on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network website, an online forum for pilots and airline industry workers.
When the smaller planes finally arrived, passengers were forced to board by stepping onto the roof of an airport vehicle and then onto a stairway, Britain's Press Association news agency reported, quoting a British Airways spokeswoman.
There had been communication difficulties between the British Airways crew and airport staff, Bo said.
"My boyfriend said to me that when they were in Kazakhstan, the pilots and stewards had difficulties communicating with the local authority and he had worked as an interpreter.
"My boyfriend's parents were from Russia and he speaks Russian, too. He also translated those instructions from the control centre to the pilots when the planes were taking off.
"He was helping all the way out for 16 hours in the airport and took the last flight to London".
Apr 17, 2006