Originally Posted by
TURIN
I wonder what was the source of ignition. Someone having a crafty fag while they work or was there any grease around?
Sad sight though. An iconic image for 2020.
Crafty fag ?
There's a smoke removal vent on the top of the forward fuselage, operated by a T handle on the overhead panel. When BA got round to banning smoking on the flight deck, transgressions were occasionally reported to management by the cabin crew, which could result in a formal carpeting and a loss of seniority for the transgressor. Die hard tab hounds used to crack the smoke vent in flight, and wedge the T handle with a ten pence piece, so that any cigarette smoke on the flight deck went out of the vent, and didn't filter back to the forward galley.
In the olden days, a few Flight Engineers smoked pipes or cigars on the 747 100's and 200's. If you turned round in your seat to speak to them, you couldn't see them, but you knew they were there.