Feeling the pressure?
Flyglobespan, the budget airline, is to be prosecuted after allowing a 757 jet to fly “illegally” to America with faulty instruments. It’s the first criminal prosecution against a British airline for more than a decade.
The 12-year-old Boeing 757 was flying between Liverpool, Knock and New York on 28 June last year when both engine pressure ratio gauges failed as the jet took off from JFK. The pilot reported the faults when he reached Liverpool.
The plane should have been grounded until at least one of the gauges had been fixed, but the airline authorised it to fly back across the Atlantic with neither gauge functioning.
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk (25 May 2008)