Woops, wrong tape...

Danbo! · 14-09-2009 3:20pm #1

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Panic broke out on a flight to Paris when the cabin crew played an emergency landing announcement by mistake.

Aer Lingus said the mistake was down to a mechanical failure

Passengers on the Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Paris began shouting out and crying as they thought their plane was about to ditch.

The drama followed an initial announcement made in English, telling passengers to return to their seats because of turbulence.

But then the crew accidentally played out a recorded emergency landing warning in French as the plane headed south over the Irish Sea.

Around 70 French passengers were reported to be "freaked out" on hearing the warning.

One English-speaking passenger said: "The French man sleeping next to me woke up and looked very startled.

"He then translated what had been said, that the plane was about to make an emergency landing and to await instructions from the pilot.

"I got quite alarmed. The woman behind me was crying. All the French totally freaked out."

The plane was just 20 minutes into its flight to Paris when the bungled announcement was broadcast.

The Irish airline's cabin crew quickly realised their mistake and swiftly apologised in French.

An airline spokesman said: "There was a malfunction of the public address system and we apologise to our passengers.

"This sort of thing happens very rarely."

Something similar happened to me a few years back on a flight to Barcelona from Dublin. You could see water vapour hanging in the air in the cabin and as full throttle was applied for take off, it started pumping into the cabin, and most passengers assumed it was smoke. People started shouting 'stop the plane' and generally screaming and crying, unbuckling their belts and trying to leave their seats. The cabin crew all left their seats and tried to climb up the aisles calming people.... After which, the pilot came on (at about 10,000ft) and neglected to explain the cause of the problem, just mentioning they had checked everything and we 'should' be ok to continue to our destination.... A lot of very upset people on board

WexCan · 17-09-2009 2:09pm

I love how this is descrided as a "sytem malfunction".

The crew keyed in the wrong number. Woops.

digital_d · 17-09-2009 3:42pm

WexCan wrote: »

I love how this is descrided as a "sytem malfunction".

The crew keyed in the wrong number. Woops.

Lol - yea operator malfunction. I've noticed that kind of thing on a couple of Aer Lingus flights I've flowen on to Europe - Like, playing a pre take off message in Spanish on the way to Amsterdam, or Playing a pre landing announement in French on the way to Dusseldorf,

Mind you I've also had a few English announcements where passengers are reminded to ensure the Seat back is stowed and thier tray table in an Upright Possition, and to Fasten thier seatbelts and return to thier seats etc.

It all adds to the relaxed and casual aer lingus experience!

Dacian · 18-09-2009 8:21am

digital_d wrote: »

Lol - yea operator malfunction. I've noticed that kind of thing on a couple of Aer Lingus flights I've flowen on to Europe -

It all adds to the relaxed and casual aer lingus experience!

Its a very easy thing to do. If you ever otice the crew hitting the buttons on the panel at the front. They have a small list of all announcements in all the languages (about 10-15 I think) Print is really small,am sure its hard to correctly read,especially in turbulence. Perhaps they should have two lists, one for normal (boarding, safety,take off,service,turbulence, landing,)and one for 'Oh bugger' situations!

Danbo! · 18-09-2009 12:33pm

WexCan wrote: »

I love how this is descrided as a "sytem malfunction".

The crew keyed in the wrong number. Woops.

So what? What could possibly go wrong on an aeroplane if a crew member keyed in a wrong number? Oh wait.....

WexCan · 20-09-2009 1:05am

On our nice shiny new Airbusses there's no numbers to worry about, much easier. Just pick from the menu on the touchscreen.

Woops, wrong tape...

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