What I saw inside a BA 747 flying from Accra to LHR.
 

A few years ago I took a flight from Accra (Ghana) to LHR on a BA 747 in economy class.

I was sitting in a window seat on the right side of the aircraft in what was then the smoking section.

When I looked down at my feet I was horrified to see that the floor of the aircraft had actually seperated from the right hand side wall, the length of the gap must have been about 12 feet, and the width was about 2-3 inches. Looking down through the gap I could see a great deal of litter and paper that had fallen down there over many flights.

As this was in the smoking section, I considered this to be a mojor fire hazard, if someone had dropped a cigarette down there at 35,000 feet there would have been no easy way to put it out.

I pointed this out to the cabic crew and the captain actually came to look, he was satisfied that the gap was not due to structural faliure and was happy to take off. No smoking was allowed on the flight on the right hand side of the aircraft for the entire flight.

I wish that I had a camera on me that day because it was bad, needless to say I do not fly BA anymore.

In my opinion the aircraft should not have left the ground in the condition it was it, the litter that was piled up underneath the cabin floor represented a huge fire hazard.

What do you guys think about it?

Imagine what else you can't see!

This is an area sadly neglected on ALL airlines. It's amazing the amount of rubbish (garbage) that builds up inside the cavities of the sidewalls. As well as the stuff pax throw on the floor, I've seen dust 2" inches thick in one particular part of the cabin(on a relatively new aircraft). Perhaps this is not the fault of airlines, but that of the manufacturer.

Since all airlines are like this, perhaps next time you will choose an airline which doesn't allow smoking (to reduce the chances of a fire).

Rgds.
Q.