Then this morning the Gazunder website reported that five fire engines from around Thanet were called to 'a blaze at Manston airport' at 7.33pm last night, with reports that a KLM aircraft 'had caught fire'. However, when they got there 'crews discovered there was no incident to be dealt with'.
So what's the story? Was this flight circling to ditch fuel ahead of an emergency landing? Or did some joker ring the boys in brown after getting fed up with yet another training flight? I think we (and the CAA) should be told!!
10 comments:
On the bright side it does mean that none of the five fire engines was parked loading the precipice above Pleasurama.
I understand that the navigator/pilot multitasker had become confused by a road sign (now featuring a small tail) and thus lost his way back to Manston.
Manston considered their emergency responses. Send up Biggles towing his "Follow me to Manston" flag. Or light some Napoleonic era runway beacons.
"Which action would upset Aquifer Man (AM) the most ?" was naturally a decision criterion. And so, with a valuable artefact box of Jimmy Swan Vestas, an operative was despatched to light the beacons and inflame AM.
Hope this was helpful by way of explanation
Over on KM, commentator DA writes -
"The FACTS: There were NO passengers on board as it was a crew training flight. It suffered a hydraulic failure."
I am sure they have more than one set of hydraulics but don't the hydraulics keep the plane flying?
I am sure the 10 to 15 thousand Ramsgate residents under the flight path will be reassured that there were no passengers on board.
Hope this is a bit informative
So was it training over Kent and got into trouble? Or was it sent here as crashing into us thanetians is better than landing on the Dutch.
Hang on, why are the fire service from around thanet attending? Hasn't manston got its own?
Yes, Manston does have its own fire crews, but, in the event of an incident, Kent Fire & Rescue crews would respond as well. Normal procedure and nothing to be alarmed about unless, of course, you are a silly fokker like 6:39 who wants to always find fault with the airport.
So at the very least they were discharging tonnes of lovely fuel particulates into our glorious sea air (once the delight of invalids for its invigorating qualities)?
My pessimistic other half has been gloomily predicting an aircraft landing on us one day... he foolishly thought it would be a funny 3rd world one with unsatisfactory safety standards, not a cheery, EU recommmended, part owned by BA (I think) Dutch one! What's wrong with crashing into the sea, if you're going to go down anyway?
Probably because it wasn't crashing but just using up fuel. If it was crashing the pilot would very probably try to go into the sea.
For one KLM flight all the Thanet fire engines had to be despatched? Were the Manston 2-3 engines on duty or not?
It was after 5pm so probably not....
not the same old 'Manston has no fire coverage after 5pm' claptrap again .. there is ALWAYS fire cover if the airport is open ...
Crew training ended with a hydraulic defect .. it was fixed and departed the next day
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