Not long ago, something pretty unusual happened with a Virgin Atlantic flight. Imagine this: you’re all buckled up, ready for your flight from Manchester, England, to the bustling streets of New York City. You’re looking out the window, maybe daydreaming about the Big Apple, and then you spot something… odd. That’s exactly what happened to a passenger on this flight. They noticed that parts of the aircraft’s wing seemed to be missing. Yes, you heard that right – parts were missing!
Now, this isn’t something you see every day. The passenger did exactly what any of us would do – they informed the flight crew. And here’s where it gets interesting. The Manchester Evening News was the first to break this story. They reported that the flight was actually canceled. Why? Well, Virgin Atlantic decided it was crucial to run some additional maintenance checks.
A spokesperson from Virgin Atlantic spoke to FOX Business about this incident. They mentioned that canceling the flight was a precautionary measure. It gave their engineering team enough time to conduct thorough inspections. We’re talking about an Airbus A330 here, a massive aircraft scheduled to cross the Atlantic.
The team found that the tops of four out of 119 fasteners on the wing panel were missing. That might not sound like a lot, but in the world of aviation, every little detail counts. The good news is that these were promptly replaced with new fasteners.
Now, you might be wondering – was this a serious safety concern? According to Virgin Atlantic, absolutely not. They reassured FOX Business, and I quote, “The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point.” They emphasized their commitment to maintaining standards well above the industry norms. And for those who are curious, the aircraft is now back in service, flying high once again.
Folks were getting ready to fly across the Atlantic, missing screws that kept the plane together, and then releasing a statement that everything was fine.
“The panel in the image is a secondary structure panel, used to improve the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft,” Neil Firth, an Airbus local chief wing engineer for the A330, said in a statement. “Each of these panels has 119 fasteners so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate.”
Not long after the news about the Virgin flight being canceled, a wheel fell on a Delta flight taxiing on the runway in Atlanta. Luckily, it happened at slow speeds, and another pilot spotted the wheel come off.
the wheel of a Delta Boeing 757 just flew off while it was preparing to take off at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The wheel then rolled down the runway…
could have been catastrophic if it happened a few seconds later
video from 1/20 (VASAviation) pic.twitter.com/mO7Fvzysmx
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) January 23, 2024
