Malaysia Airlines plays down latest incident
While the search continues in the southern Indian Ocean for MH370, Malaysia Airlines had another public relations crisis to deal with yesterday when one of its aircraft was forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport after a tyre burst on take-off.
MH192, a B737-800 aircraft carrying 159 passengers and seven crew and heading for Bangalore, left tyre debris on the runway and returned to KLIA as a safety precaution.
Top Malaysia Airlines management was present to farewell the passengers on the retimed flight which landed without incident in Bangalore
Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said: "I was there to meet the passengers and crew when they disembarked. Instead of chaos and fear, everyone spoke highly of the professionalism of the pilot, first officer and the cabin crew."
A Malaysia Airline media releases quoted several passengers onboard the turnaround flight.
Pritesh Jain, who was seated at seat 22A, said: "We heard a loud noise upon take-off and the aircraft shook. I knew something was wrong. The pilots were very quick to act and they kept communicating with us."
Basavaraj Udapud said: "There was also an emergency landing drill done by the cabin crew. Everyone was already reciting prayers but the situation in the aircraft was very calm. It was under control."
A cardiologist, Dr. Lisa said: "I sensed something was wrong and soon after the captain made an announcement. The lady next to me was hyperventilating and I kept telling her to calm down."
THE air search for MH370 was suspended for today due to bad weather as a result of a tropical cylone.
Appearing on US morning television, Sarah Bajc, the girlfriend of Flight 370 American passenger Philip Wood, told Today host Matt Lauer passengers’ loved ones all just "wanted to go back to square one".
"We just don’t believe they’re using proper evaluative techniques to check the data," she said. "It’s day 45 and we’re basically on the same position we were on the first day."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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