Another fumes incident for Flybe
16.11.07
A Flybe plane made an emergency landing shortly after take-off this week when fumes began leaking into the cabin, the Daily Mail reports Passengers on board the flight from Birmingham Airport to Stuttgart complained of an 'unpleasant odour' and 'high temperatures'.
As a precaution the plane headed back to Birmingham and landed under emergency conditions just 15 minutes after taking off. The 24 passengers onboard were taken off the aircraft and sent back into the departures lounge where waited three hours for the next Flybe service to Stuttgart.
A passenger told the newspaper: 'I could see smoke and smell burning rubber. At one point the oxygen masks dropped down. When we touched down there was emergency services to meet us.'
A spokesman said the airline is now investigating the incident, which happened at 13:35 on Tuesday afternoon. It is the third time this year that fumes have leaked into the cabin on Flybe flights from Birmingham. The two previous leaks were on the Birmingham to Belfast route.
In the first incident in February, the crew had to put on oxygen masks and turn back after fumes wafted into the cabin 15 minutes after take-off. Then in July two air stewardesses collapsed after being overcome by fumes and all seven crew members had to be taken to hospital on landing in Belfast.
Staff claim that, in addition to the 3 reported leaks, there have been 7 other similar incidents in the last 15 months. Some crew members are reported to be so alarmed by that incident on the Flybe's BAe 146 planes that they have refused to fly on them. Flybe will be withdrawing the 16 planes from service by next February as part of a fleet rationalisation.
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