(T)error in the Skies
Birmingham (AP) - "I've never been so frightened in my life!"
That's how homemaker and churchgoer Sara Hutchison described
the ordeal.
Sunday, a Brittania A329 Airbus stood at the end of Runway 2
in Birmingham, ready to take its capacity load of businessmen,
holidaymakers and airline-industry freeloaders to Heathrow. Then
things went horribly wrong.
"The plane started to take off, then suddenly veered onto a
road to the right, and made a U-turn without signaling. I thought
I could hear the tyres squeal", said amateur pharmacist and
professional plane spotter David Knowles on airliners.net, an
aviation industry web site.
On a pilots-only web board, the truth came out. "I was waiting
for my flight at gate C30, listening to the scanner, when I heard
that 329 was coming in with an emergency -- smoke in the
cockpit -- firetrucks and all", said CFIT, listed in his profile as a
Dispatcher for Virgin Airlines.
The jet in question had been purchased from an American
charter company that had flown troops to the Persian Gulf in
1990. Aviation experts suspect depleted uranium left in the
overhead containers might have contributed to the rejected take
off. According to an RAF officer, who preferred to remain
anonymous, just a few rounds of 20mm ammunition in the right
places would be enough to cause an aborted takeoff.
The alleged pilot denied these rumours, "We were going to
take off, but the V1 on the B Engine was looking a little dodgy
due to a bad annunciator switch. So I got Eurocontrol on the
land line and told them we were going around."
The flight arrived a full ten minutes late. Passengers
interviewed at Heathrow had mixed opinions on their brush with
death. "Terrible flight. They wouldn't let us get up the whole time.
I need a drink", said John Smith, a pubkeeper visibly shaking from
the ordeal.
Birmingham native Rosa Parks disagreed, "I didn't feel
especially frightened. I felt more annoyed than frightened."