Wed, Sep 17, 2008
Air Berlin 737-800 Suffered Flap Position Glitch
If at first you don't succeed, try again... but if you don't
succeed the second time, you'd best prepare for a passenger
revolt.
Passengers on an Air Berlin flight from Nuremburg to Portugal
came close to mutiny Sunday morning, demanding that the airline
replace the Boeing 737-800 scheduled to operate their flight after
pilots aborted two attempts to takeoff.
The Associated Press reports the aircraft experienced a problem
with the flap position indicator in the cockpit. The pilots
returned the plane to the gate after noticing the problem prior to
their first takeoff attempt, and two of the 172 passengers onboard
opted not to take the flight.
Airline spokeswoman Alexandra Mueller said the other 170
passengers boarded the airplane after the problem had been
supposedly fixed... but when the same glitch popped up a second
time, those passengers demanded Air Berlin bring in a new
plane.
Those passengers -- perhaps aware of current questions about
last month's downing of a Spanair MD-82 in Madrid,
which investigators say may have been tied to improper flap
settings on takeoff -- went so far as to sign a
petition demanded a replacement aircraft. Eventually, Air Madrid
flew in another 737 from Antalya, Turkey.
Mueller noted the incident shows "passengers are reacting very
sensitively to every kind of technical defect at the moment."
Air Berlin technicians later identified the source of the
glitch, and put the plane back in service... though on a different
route.
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