BA77 delayed due to death
 

Searched the forums and can find nothing on this, in fact there's nothing on the Internet at all, however as I have a colleague on the plane I feel fairly secure in putting it here.

BA 77 service to Luanda that was scheduled to depart yesterday did not depart due to the on-board death of an an asylum seeker who was being returned to AO - there was apparently a struggle involving multiple people and at the end of it he was deceased.
The man concerned was apparently in his early 30s and did not want to leave the UK.

All passengers were taken off the 777 after 90 mins or so, my colleague was accommodated overnight and is just heading back to LHR now, apparently the flight will leave tonight instead.

Having flown deportees before, the best alternative is cuffs and (perhaps if needed), leg irons or, in extreme cases, a straight jacket.
Evac problems, you say?
Rubbish, just have a supervisor toss him down the chute, like a sack of potatoes.:}

Flight will only leave tonight once ALL remaining (about half) pax and original crew have been interviewed and witness statements taken by the Met guys who will be looking at new notebooks by the end of the shift.

This interview process is starting now.

I wonder who will get stuffed with the bill for this.

The Airline are not to blame, as they don't get much of a choice in accepting deportee pax so it's unfair on them.


The Airport Operator can't be expected to fund this.

Recent experience
 

I have been on a couple of flights with deportees recently, in fact the last was on Monday. Both, and talking to the immigration man rather consistently, have the person surrounded by the officials in the back rows and the deportee proceeds to scream and moan at the top of their voice in the hope that they will be offloaded.

It is really unsettling to the passengers as in the case on Monday it took 15 mins before push back and 20 mins to take off, only once airborne does the individual shut up.

They have to go of course, but there has to be a better way to get them out, in my view scheduled flights should not be the way!

Ever seen the movie "Con Air", maybe a spare Herc could be fitted with cages and used instead.

Maybe we could short circuit the process and not let them into the country in the first place.

I don't know how long the deceased has been in LHR or UK but if it was a recent arrival, the carrier who brought that perwson here needs to take thjem back, and pay the associated costs.

If the AS has been here a while then Immigration should pay the costs, that seems fair.

I don't think the Herc idea is very practical, we'd need to wait for a full load to make it worthwhile.

But..............

Maybe some joined up thinking could get all the apppeals turned down on the same day and do them in Herc sized bunches, sorted by country.


As for distressing the other pax, why would you want to go to a country where the thought of returning makes the natives scream?

BA777 delay
 

Who does want to leave the UK, unless your english,of course

Having been the captain on several depo flights before; one about 6 years ago resulted in me be very wary.

What I witnessed on that flight was:

1. depo being fine until about 10 yards from the aircraft on the jetway
2. throwing himself on the floor and screaming
3. being manhandled to rear row of seats horizontally
4. throwing himself onto the aisle floor and pleading with me, the captain, by screaming
5. being 'forced' into the seats by several size 11's on the back of his neck, by officers stamping on him while standing on the seat backs either side of him
6. I was advised that as captain I could decline too accept the depo, but that the cost to xyz would be £xx,xxx
[this was prior to pax boarding]
7. I can say that the cost was never a factor
8. We were not full and the last few rows were able to be made vacant
9. The cabin crew were consulted and agreed
10. As IThink said, it all became quiet when the depo realised that it was going to happen regardless

Nonetheless, for me, that set some boundaries, and I think that the government agencies on that day exceeded the boundaries acceptable on commercial flights and (irrespective of the depo's crimes) infringed the law of the land and the rights of the individual.

On reflection, I wish that I had offloaded the party, but, as the saying goes, 'I learned about xxx from that'.

I once witnessed a very unpleasant spectacle at CDG, one of the reasons I avoid that excuse for an airport.

A young black woman in handcuffs was being dragged along the floor by 5 or six police officers, she was screaming and shouting, not aggressively but clearly in terror and desperation, presumably being taken to a departure gate.

I've no idea what she'd done, but whatever it was, I think that treating her like that was quite inappropriate and certainly not something the travelling public should be exposed to.

If I remember correctly the prisoners escaped !!!

TopBunk
 

I think I was on that flight. Never been so happy to arrive in Miami.

Robtheblade

Not my flight. It was local European, and hence being less than 1 hour, which was a further factor in my decision.

I have flown many DEPO and INADs on longhaul without incident, so flying them on commercial aircraft is not generally an issue.

About 20 years ago the Immigration services tried to board a middle aged large Nigerian woman onto our flight to Lagos. The woman fought with the three large men, kicking, biting and pulling as they tried to bring her up the steps with her back arching, as she fought, which made it impossible to move her. In the end she fought so hard they had to give up, for fear of her hurting herself, and put her back in their van.

I spoke with one of the officers and he said that they would try again another day with more staff. He told me that it was fear, of what was going to happen to them when they got to their destination, that caused them to fight so hard. Many countries lock deportees up and treat them badly when they arrive back home.

In Nigeria many years ago it was a common sight to see prisoners in leg iron and chained together sitting in the airport terminal baggage area but have not been to Nigeria for many years so not sure if this still happens.

The whole thing is very sad for both the deceased man and all those involved.

My colleague is now in Luanda (as am I, thankfully on an Emirates flight) and confirms what was said above.
The flight left a day late, the full compliment of authorities were on the plane before any pax were allowed off (SOCO, Met, CID etc) statements were taken from pax and they were accommodated locally (mostly in the Sofitel) before the flight left 24hrs or so late.
The deceased was removed by coronors in a body bag - rumour on the plane is that he started to struggle, claiming his family were all in the UK and that he hit his head on something during a fall to the floor.

The return leg leaves LAD an hour earlier than normal tonight.

As reported in the guardian today.

Security guards accused over death of man being deported to Angola | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Any minute now we can expect someone to suggest that there was no need for the G4S guys at all and the deceased could just have been trusted to go alone.

I don't think he's the kind of person who would have responded to anything other than robust handling and secure restraints.

Just a question: do deportees and prisoners are traveling handcuffed during the entire flight from boarding to deplaning?

Rwy in Sight

I'm a regional pilot in Oz. No deportees, obviously, but we take prisoners going from/to court appearances. All are handcuffed (and escorted) for the entire flight.

DIVOSH!

What's the situation in regard to restrained prisoners if there's an emergency evacuation? It could be difficult for anyone handcuffed - especially if it was necessary to use an over-wing exit.

According to the BBC news at 0700, Scotland Yard's homicided squad have taken over the case.