A330 in Lightning strike drama?
 

Just reading the 'Western Gazette' website and saw this:

Click here for full version of Western Gazette

EX-MAYOR RELIVES HORROR FLIGHT ON BURNING PLANE

BY JILL GOSSAGE STAFF REPORTER

15:00 - 13 November 2003

A Former north Dorset mayor has spoken of her traumatic brush with death in a burning plane struck by lightning during a "cosmic storm". Janet Rider, Mayor of Shaftesbury 11 years ago, was on her way home from a holiday in Cuba with daughter Virginia when the Monarch Airlines' A330 Airbus with 384 passengers on board had to be diverted to St John's Airport, Newfoundland.

"We were told by firefighters the next day that if we hadn't got down within ten minutes we would never have made it," said a still-shaken Mrs Rider at her home in Castle Hill Close, Shaftesbury.

"They also told us that we were refused permission to land at New York because we had come from Cuba and the authorities feared there could be a repetition of 9?11."

Mrs Rider first suspected something might be wrong when she saw a flash of light on the starboard wing.

"The weather was very turbulent because we were flying through the cosmic storm but I thought the flash was probably a reflection of the wing light in the window against the blackness of the sky," she said.

"Then the air conditioning duct above the lockers started vibrating badly but a steward said it was just ice in it rattling which I didn't believe. The passenger cabin filled with the smell of burning rubber. The captain said it was a slight electrical fault which they were trying to rectify."

Passengers had barely started eating their meals when the captain ordered them to be collected and stowed away and the cabin crew to return to their seats.

"Then the TV screens went off and the whole cabin plunged into darkness with only the blue emergency floor lights pointing the way to the emergency exits," said Mrs Rider.

"One minute we had lights, the next we were in total darkness. Children were crying, a woman screamed, 'We are all going to die' and it was really quite frightening. Eventually the captain said we were going to divert to Newfoundland.

"The engines cut out and everything went silent. You could hear a pin drop. It seemed like eternity. We started to fall rapidly and I thought, 'This is it'. I put my pillow and blanket on my lap and held Virginia's hand, expecting to be told that we had to adopt the crash position but no announcement came.

"We then landed very fast and were told to take what hand luggage we could and to leave the plane as quickly as possible. There was no pushing and shoving but I've never known a plane disembark so fast."

Passengers spent the night in a Holiday Inn and before a replacement plane arrived from the UK Mrs Rider and her daughter went for a walk around the area.

"We came upon the Kent's Pond fire station and the firefighters there told us they had been called to the airport and that there had been a fire in the cockpit which had been put out before they arrived but was still smoking," said Mrs Rider.

"When we eventually arrived back at Gatwick I felt I wanted to kiss the ground like the Pope. Even though it was pouring with rain and freezing I was never more glad to be back on terra firma."

Mrs Rider is still sleeping badly and having flashbacks after the incident two weeks ago.

"I keep thinking, 'What if?' They say that your life passes through your eyes when you're facing death but it didn't. I believe that your life is mapped out from the moment you're born and I guess our time wasn't yet up. I'm just glad to be alive."


Sounds like a script for a new Hollywood disaster movie. How much do they pay these journalists to put rubbish like this in a newspaper?

Crikey!

I'm never flying again:{

not if it means a night in a.... Holiday Inn....aaaarrrrggghhh

Was there a queue to her seat with people wanting to slap her? (a la Flying High)

Whats a cosmic storm? And what did she mean by 'the engines cut out'? What, like when they go quiet when you descend? Sounds more like someone doing an electrical smoke drill on an Airbus.

A cosmic storm indeed - what a load of cr@p!

Were there any nuns on board? Did one have a guitar?

I like this bit. Just cause I'm a little curious, is there even the slightest bit of truth in this?

384 people on an Airbus 330, were 24 standing :E

If I'd been onboard, there would have been a queue of at least one ;)

"We then landed very fast and were told to take what hand luggage we could and to leave the plane as quickly as possible."

Since when have passengers been allowed to collect their hand luggage before evacuating the aircraft!!

In all fairness, the link does work so it seems the story was printed, despite being based on fantasy. Just proves the adage about believing what you read in the papers.

I note the rag is from the UK's West Country. Hardly a great advert. I can only assume this is what their hacks churn out when they're not enjoying themselves with their relatives. :rolleyes:

"I note the rag is from the UK's West Country. Hardly a great advert. I can only assume this is what their hacks churn out when they're not enjoying themselves with their relatives. "

Hey, steady on, we have animals as well as relatives for hacks to enjoy!

I doubt that the west country rags have a monopoly on printing sensationalist, inaccurate claptrap.

I also wonder whether the great God Compensation does not have a part to play in this tale: 'ten minutes and we would have died'; 'we're all going to die'; 'engines cut out .... this is it; 'sleeping badly since and having flashbacks'.

Cause of the burning rubber smell...........? An intermitantly slipping rubber compressor drive belt in a galley chiller unit. Impossible to identify at the time.

No lightning strike, No flightdeck fire or smoke, no double flameout, no refused permission to land.

Just a few moments in a dark cabin with an over active imagination, subsequently sexed up by a journo with no integrity

6 or 7 years ago, I was on a KLM B747 flying back from Sao Paulo which apparently was hit by lightening. In many ways as slf, it was a non event - electrical system hickup and what appearded to me to be a purple light inn tha cabin for about a ten millionth of a nano second.

Still, why let a good story get in the way of ...........

A330 in lightning strike drama
 

Woah there guys! I was on that flight and feared serious problems from the moment the coloured gent with the saxaphone boarded. (Great thread.... made my day..sad ol' skipper with no medical!)BM

Hey it wasn't just in that West Country rag........it was front page story in the fantastic Luton on Sunday, week before last.

Don't have a link as I'm not that clever but it was pretty much the same trash.

cheers ;)

FF

Is any bit of the article true or is it all fantasy ???????

Mr.Q. Yes it was true. Flt was from Cuba to LGW diverted into St.Johns Newfloundland with burning smell in cabin. As per ButtonMonkeys post. "Cause of the burning rubber smell...........? An intermitantly slipping rubber compressor drive belt in a galley chiller unit. Impossible to identify at the time.

No lightning strike, No flightdeck fire or smoke, no double flameout, no refused permission to land.

Just a few moments in a dark cabin with an over active imagination, subsequently sexed up by a journo with no integrity

Surely you are either told to get your hand luggage or leave as quickly as possible, but not both.