this was on the front page of the Gulf-News this morning....'different' viewpoint etc etc Ha ! Ha !
Gulf News - 4/4/05
Fuel leak stalls airline's onward journey to UK
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
Dubai: What could have been a major air incident has been averted after a passenger who saw fuel gushing from one of the wings alerted the cabin crew.
A Phuket Airlines Boeing 747-300 with 358 passengers on board was on its way to Gatwick Airport in London from Bangkok. It landed at Sharjah International Airport for refuelling at 3.30am yesterday.
"They overfilled the fuel tank," said Matthew Cripps, a British passenger.
"As a result, steps were taken to remove the excess fuel. Finally, when we thought that everything had been settled and that we would finally take off, I saw fuel gushing out on to the runway. It looked as if someone had turned a tap on.
"I told the stewardess: 'This aircraft can't take off'. To which she replied: 'It was normal'. I just told her: 'No, lady, this does not normally happen'. Then one of the flight engineers came over and sat near where I was. When he saw what was happening his face went white."
All passengers on board the aircraft, which is at least 15 years old, disembarked and were taken to the airport transit lounge and later checked into five hotels in Sharjah.
"There was a technical problem," said Fidol Puangsuwan, assistant special manager, Phuket Airlines.
"When we realised there was a fuel leak we immediately ordered the pilot not to take off. We are still investigating why this happened. The pilot was not able to detect the fuel leakage because it did not show up in the cockpit system. We are not sure when we will be able to take off," he said.
"There is a regular Bangkok to London flight tomorrow, but we are trying our best to arrange for an emergency extra flight for today. For that we need to get permission from India to fly over their air space. The airline is covering the food and accommodation expenses for all the passengers," he said.