BA steward accidentally activates emergency slide on first day at work
18 January 2023, 11:32
A steward mistakenly activated a £50,000 emergency plane slide on their first day of work.
If you think your first day at work was bad, a British Airways steward was left mortified when they mistakenly activated the emergency slide.
The unnamed man was making his debut flight on a Boeing 777 from Heathrow last Friday when he accidentally opened an emergency door.
According to The Sun, this caused an inflatable evacuation slide to be released from the side of the aircraft.
This meant the slide could no longer be used and a replacement aircraft would be required, costing the airline a whopping £50,000.
Emergency services rushed to the incident after being informed of the emergency slide, before realising no one was being evacuated.
Engineers were called to try and lift the rubber emergency slide from the tarmac but it was concluded it had to be replaced.
What’s more, passengers on board the BA75 flight to Lagos, Nigeria were then told they had to wait up to four hours before they could get on their way.
Another aircraft completed the journey with the same crew, but the first-time steward is said to have been ‘immediately replaced’.
The huge costs included a replacement emergency slide, missing their allotted take-off slot and transferring the travellers to another airplane.
The Sun reports a crew member has since shared a photo of his colleagues following the accident, writing: “1 blown slide, 1 NITS briefing, 1 diversion, 2 nights in Lagos, and a very TIRED crew."
A statement reportedly provided by British Airways said: "The aircraft returned to stand and customers disembarked normally.
"We've apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused, have provided them with refreshment vouchers and have arranged a replacement aircraft so that they can continue their journey as planned."
Boeing 777-200 planes have eight slides which are all regularly checked over by engineers.
To operate the slide, crew members have to open the aircraft door in the 'automatic' position and it takes such six seconds for the 14 metre slide to roll out and inflate.
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