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Stop that plane, there’s a spanner on the wing!

BRITAIN TERROR PLOT BUDGET AIRLINES: BUDGET TRAVEL: Passenger planes of the budget airline easyjet at Belfast International Airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006. Europeans have become used to cheap flights over the past decade, sometimes paying no more than the price of a good meal for a ticket between London and Barcelona. But last week's terrorist alert has cast a shadow over the era of budget flying, with fears that no-frills airlines won't be able to avoid passing on the costs of ongoing tougher security measures to commuters. "The situation as it is at the moment is unsustainable," said David Bryon, the former managing director of low-cost airline bmibaby, on Monday, Aug. 14, 2006. Canceled and delayed flights since the revelation of a plot to attack a number of planes on the trans-Atlantic route have already cost all carriers millions of pounds (dollars; euros) per day and the budget airlines could be more susceptible to future costs. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

BRITAIN TERROR PLOT BUDGET AIRLINES: BUDGET TRAVEL: Passenger planes of the budget airline easyjet at Belfast International Airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006. Europeans have become used to cheap flights over the past decade, sometimes paying no more than the price of a good meal for a ticket between London and Barcelona. But last week's terrorist alert has cast a shadow over the era of budget flying, with fears that no-frills airlines won't be able to avoid passing on the costs of ongoing tougher security measures to commuters. "The situation as it is at the moment is unsustainable," said David Bryon, the former managing director of low-cost airline bmibaby, on Monday, Aug. 14, 2006. Canceled and delayed flights since the revelation of a plot to attack a number of planes on the trans-Atlantic route have already cost all carriers millions of pounds (dollars; euros) per day and the budget airlines could be more susceptible to future costs. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Published Mar 11, 2016

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London - An EasyJet flight was aborted moments before take-off after a passenger spotted a spanner attached to one of its wings.

The packed jet had already taxied to the runway at Geneva Airport when the 25-year-old Swiss man saw the spanner wedged between the wing flaps.

He alerted cabin crew and the pilot immediately returned to the terminal so the tool could be removed. The passenger, named only as Christophe, said: “I realised straight away what I was seeing was not normal. There was a spanner attached to the wing.”

An easyJet spokesperson said: “The captain returned to the plane’s departure point and a spanner was discovered. We have opened an inquiry and the authorities have been informed.” After checks were made, the plane was able to set off for Copenhagen an hour later, the company added.

An aviation expert told Switzerland’s 20 Minutes news website: “The tool could have fallen onto the runway, and then been hit by the next aircraft.

“It could have caused serious structural damage, just like with the Concorde crash in Paris.”

That disaster in July 2000 was believed to have been caused by a strip of metal which fell from another plane onto the runway and then punctured the supersonic jet’s tyres, sending shards into an engine and igniting fuel.

Daily Mail

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