Exploding curry menaces 747
 

Forget binary liquid explosives, a British Airways stewardess has shown how it's really done by popping her curry ready meal into a 747's club class microwave, with explosive results.


The spicy blast - caused by the supermarket-bought nosh's inability to withstand the might of the double-strength airborne microwave - provoked crew on the Heathrow to Miami jaunt to deploy a fire extinguisher "to douse the blazing oven".

The jumbo subsequently needed days of repairs totalling £20,000, The Sun notes. This prompted BA to circulate details of the incident in a secret email memo to long haul crews, chillingly entitled "Microwave incident". The missive notes that food intended for high-altitude reheating needs "special packaging" since the aircraft's ovens have twice the power output of your ground-based domestic model.


Accordingly, staff are now banned from preparing their own tucker in 747s' club class microwaves. One BA employee lamented: "Many cabin crew like to bring their own meals to eat. At first we thought the microwaves were a godsend. But this unfortunate incident has left us with egg on our faces."
BA stressed that at no time during the curry-based emergency were passengers or the aircraft at risk.



Taken from www.theregister.co.uk

Balti was invented in Birmingham...oh er!

Don't tell the DfT for gawd sake or they'll ban food next! It's bad enough they've banned gel - this last winter was hell on-ramp without my microwave gel packs in my shoes!!

Actually this is a security breach, as food with sauces are banned, at least for ground staff anyway!

Dont know where you work but thats not true.

Staff may carry small quantities of liquids, but only within separate containers each of which with a capacity not greater than 100ml.

The liquid security rules makes sense now. Look what happens when you mix liquids with industrial-strength microwave ovens.

she probably forgot to pierce the plastic covering. Done it myself (at home)... makes a helluva noise. Probably scared the crap out of everybody.

basically... im not sure where you guys are working/got your info
but its the same DFT regulations for crew and pax (at least at my base it is)
Taking food through is no prob

Try getting food though US Customs as crew... fun! Now you're forced to eat your crew meal :yuk:.

got a circular about it 2day, apparently it was a baked potato not a curry.

difficult to tell the difference to a casual observer after it explodes

It could even have been a potato curry....

I'll get my hi-vi...

Are we agreed it was food........?:}

Perhaps this time, but it's not always food everything that goes in to the microwave. :\

You're thinking of those gel-packed "keep-you-warm" packs, aren't you?

Oh, eek.... GEL!

't Wasn't me guv.

So people have been cooking food in these double power micro-waves for weeks/months/years and suddenly one explodes? I don't think we are getting the full story! I can visualise a jacket potato blowing up but a curry would just get too hot.

A2QFI,
IIRC the story DID say it was a "non-standard" "take-away" "carry-on" curry (if you get my drift)
Reasonably tough packaging, somebody forgets to punch a few holes in it, double-power microwave....
Yes I think the scenario is quite believable.

Clearly in BA one is blessed with Microwave ovens... here in the World of Tweed we are only worthy of convection ones.....

I can only dream of a day when I might bring in my own curry....aah luxury. :)

If they'd been inbound it could have been an attempt to get a quick and efficient gate assignment...:}

What's probably happened is that the top wasn't pierced, the pressure built up until it burst, then at suddenly reduced pressure, the superheated liquid boiled pretty instantly. That would create a pretty good explosion.

Why was it secret?
 

This case just shows how stupidly secretive airlines are when something goes wrong.
The knowledge on safety levels must be shared with all who fly!
Secret memo indeed.
It also shows that to endanger an aircraft in flight, nothing needs to be got through security - all that is required is already on board - microwave oven - quite a good place to begin!!!
FC.