Engineer passenger fixes plane
Updated on 06 July 2009
An aircraft engineer helped holidaymakers avoid a long delay when he fixed the plane on which he was a passenger.
The man was onboard a flight from Menorca to Glasgow when the captain announced that the Thomas Cook flight TCX964L was delayed because of a technical fault.
He told passengers that an engineer would probably have to be flown out from Manchester to fix the problem, which could take up to eight hours.
However, the passenger told cabin staff that he was a qualified engineer and offered to help.
He managed to resolve the problem and the plane took off, landing in Glasgow 35 minutes late on Saturday.
A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said that the company followed procedures to check the man's licence and ensure he was qualified before allowing him to work on the Boeing 757-200.
It turned out that he works for Thomsonfly which has a reciprocal maintenance agreement with Thomas Cook.
Holidaymaker Keith Lomax, 62, from Stirling, said passengers were very grateful to the man, who wishes to remain anonymous.
He said: "He got a round of applause when he got back on the plane.
"If he hadn't managed to fix the problem we could have been delayed for six to eight hours and there were a lot of young families on board so he was the hero. Everyone on the plane appreciated what he did."
These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.
