We are about to land on the sea - BA crew plays emergency warning by mistake

[markis10]

PASSENGERS feared for their lives when British Airways cabin crew mistakenly announced their plane was about to make an emergency landing - on the sea. Duncan and Tracey Farquharson said they were three hours into the London-Miami flight when a recorded message was played over the public address system warning that the aircraft was going down, the UK’s Telegraph reported.

Read more: Passengers panic as British Airways crew mistakenly announce the jet is going down | News.com.au
​

 

[LiamR]

I'm assuming this is an Airbus A320 series aircraft. I've played around with the Flight Attendant Pannel (The screen above where the forward crew sit, on your left as you board the aircraft) and it can be really easy to press the wrong PA button.

I think it's happened on Jetstar one or two times aswell.

 

[ozmille]

I'm assuming this is an Airbus A320 series aircraft. I've played around with the Flight Attendant Pannel (The screen above where the forward crew sit, on your left as you board the aircraft) and it can be really easy to press the wrong PA button.

I think it's happened on Jetstar one or two times aswell.

I Think BA only operates 747 between LHR and MIA (9h45m flight), must be scary to hear that...

 

[markis10]

I'm assuming this is an Airbus A320 series aircraft. I've played around with the Flight Attendant Pannel (The screen above where the forward crew sit, on your left as you board the aircraft) and it can be really easy to press the wrong PA button.

I think it's happened on Jetstar one or two times aswell.

If it was an A320 on that route then they would have been landing in the sea.

 

[dajop]

Had this happen once somewhere over the Pacific enroute from LAX-MEL on QF. The message "wasn't about to land over sea" but it was an oxygen mask/depressurisation message. Amazing how quickly it wakes you up and gets the adrenalin going. It took them about 1-2 mins for the captain to make an announcement to ignore it and another 10 to silence it, but getting back to sleep wasn't all that easy!

 

[LiamR]

I Think BA only operates 747 between LHR and MIA (9h45m flight), must be scary to hear that...

If it was an A320 on that route then they would have been landing in the sea.

Hmmm, interesting. I have no idea about the Emergency PAs on a 747.

 

[samh004]

Didn’t this happen to BA last year too? Deja vu for me…

Perhaps they need to see if a certain crew member needs retraining

 

[awilcockson]

Didn’t this happen to BA last year too? Deja vu for me…

Yep

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....itish-airways-crew-plays-emergency-25133.html

 

[samh004]

Yep

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....itish-airways-crew-plays-emergency-25133.html

Off by about 6 months… but still, wonder if it was the same FA

 

[NM]

I had a similar experience on a QF 744 last year. I think it was probably QF51 or QF127 - can't remember now. Just at top-of-decent an automated cabin announcement started playing. Can't remember exactly what it was, but was similar to what has been described in this BA incident. The crew could not stop it playing - it just kept repeating. The Captain very quickly reassured everyone that there was no problem and to ignore the message.

The only way they could stop it playing in the cabin (at least initially) was for one of the pilots to be giving a PA. So the Captain explained that he instructed the Second Officer to open his PA microphone for the remainder of the flight or until the invalid automated announcement could be stopped. Of course this affectively ended all IFE programming.

I was surprised to not see any mention in the news media the following day. I found it a bit of a novelty at the time.

 

[milehighclub]

On QF aircraft there is a system called PRAM - Pre recorded announcements.

On Airbus aircraft it is controlled via the FAP, and on Boeing there is a individual control panel. It contains most of our PA's in English and I think 9 other languages.


The decompression announcement is automatic (once certain parameters are met of if deployed by the pilots) and is programmed to play 3 times. It has been known to go off without the masks dropping.

 

[NM]

The decompression announcement is automatic (once certain parameters are met of if deployed by the pilots) and is programmed to play 3 times. It has been known to go off without the masks dropping.

My experience last year could well have been the decompression announcement. I saw it as a non-event and hence don't remember the details. It may have been three times, then repeated again three times and again three times etc. It did go on for quite a while and the only way to "stop" it at the time was for the pilots to hold a mic open for a PA. And I do seem to remember the announcement saying to retirn to your seat etc, which would be what I would expect for such an event.

Obviously the masks did not fall, nor was there any pressurisation system problem. Just the errant announcement.

 

[Storyteller]

Will be participating in a night time water evacuation from an AA plane next week in DFW. I guess they will play a similar message as we prepare.

 

[tuapekastar]

Will be participating in a night time water evacuation from an AA plane next week in DFW. I guess they will play a similar message as we prepare.

As you do. :shock: