PMs flight aborted in South Africa
 

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the PM's flight back from South Africa was aborted after sparks were seen coming from one of the engines during take off.

He said the incident occurred at 11pm South African time. "They had started their run down the runway, they hadn't got very far when the pilot noticed something wrong with engine number three. They shut down the engine, aborted take-off, and went back to the terminal. Being 11pm South African time, there weren't any other planes and they couldn't have arranged an alternative to get them back in time for the ID card vote. He will travel back overnight tonight."

Asked if there were sparks coming from one of the engines, the spokesman said: "I gather that was one of the symptoms of an engine not working. In terms of take-off speed, they were well short of the point of take-off. In the technical jargon, this is termed a minor incident."

The spokesman refused to say which airline company owned the aircraft which had been privately chartered for the trip.

The spokesman refused to say which airline company owned the aircraft which had been privately chartered for the trip.

Bloomin waste of money.

Thought he normally flew a chartered BA 777 when going long haul???

http://www.jetaviation.com/index.php...ereurope_dc872

I'm sure others will agree that a engine failure on take off roll, is probably a slightly bigger event that was was being described as a "minor incident".
the a/c looks quite over powered with the CFM 56 engines

But the question needs to be asked why the UK government are chartering foreign aircraft for who is essentially the head of state. (Obviously HM the Queen is the head of State).

The UK has 3 major airlines capable of doing the job: BA, VS and BD, not to mention the RAF with the Queens flight

Can't be a 777 then can it.
Using B.A. scheduled flight??? Nah His Tonyness wouldn't lower himself that far,he leaves that to the Royals.

Long-range Falcon 900. Don't know where you got the DC8 idea from.

Where do they tech stop with a 900 then?

afaik the journalists who travel with him pay to do so hence the tax payer pays nothing

Comment from Downing St. when asked whether it was correct that sparks were seen from the underside of the plane - the spokesman said:
"I gather that was one of the symptoms of an engine not working."
Nobody can say our political leaders are other than intuitive.
Might have a golden lining – as Tony Blair will miss today's crucial Commons vote on ID cards. His whips were counting on him not repeating recent Education Bill gaffs.
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Aer Turas
 

I saw him a few days ago on the tv getting off a DC 8, so its likely he was heading back on it as well.

The DC-8 was in MAN the other night, so maybe it was picking him up?

It only seats up to 35 people, so there is not room for many journos once the PM's staff are all in there.

Do you think would have to apply for traffic rights to fly a UK-SA routing, and could/would any other aircraft operators object?

Problem with this story is that unless some one comes up with the correct aircraft on this thread even the journos who were on it will know what it was.
Is this the first ever reported incident of "Diplomatic Tech Problems"? As in Diplomatic Flu?

The Press Assocation has this quote "The spokesman confirmed that sparks were seen coming from one of the plane's three engines."

Would suggest Falcon 900 right enough. Don't know who would have seen the sparks though. ATC?

JT

PM Flight
 

Perhaps he should have been taken in an RAF VC10 thet say it's the fastest subsonic airliner and it looks good as well

Coincidentally.... HB-IGH DC-8 is said to be "delayed" in Jo'burg....

PM stuck
 

I just called No 10 Press Office, and they didn't want to say anything about it, but did confirm it was "a three-engined" aircraft.

Did they mean three engined after or before the tech problem?

Tony Blair has been describing the moment his jet developed mechanical problems in South Africa this morning. He said he heard a loud bang just before the plane was about to take off. He'd been attending a summit on combating world poverty. His official spokesman said it was impossible to arrange another flight to take the Prime Minister back to the UK in time for this evening's Commons vote on identity cards.

"We were just about to take off, and I suppose in another few seconds we would have been in the air, and then suddenly there was a bang and I didn't really have time to be particularly worried about it, but.. So there it is. It's just one of these things."

For which he and his group had chartered an executive aircraft at goodness-knows-what (including positioning it to/from Basel) rather than going out on one of the many commercial 747s which operate at the same times.

Spotters Corner! Does our glorious leader know has been relegated to the world of anoraks and thormous flasks! Or is Danny trying to hide some thing?