Passengers file lawsuit over BA Heathrow emergency landing
A group of British and Norwegian passengers who were involved in the emergency landing of a British Airways flight at Heathrow earlier this year are filing a lawsuit.
The nine passengers claim the experience, when an engine caught fire, has left them with severe psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and a fear of flying which interferes with their personal and professional lives.
They say they believed they were about to die when Flight BA 762 from London to Oslo was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow on May 24.
As the Airbus A319 took-off, the fan cowl doors from both engines detached, puncturing a fuel pipe on the right engine and causing an external fire to break out.
One of the passengers, Alexandra Townsley, said of her ordeal: "It was absolutely terrifying. My sister and I had a clear view of the engine fire. I remember thinking to myself that I was going to die.
"I am angry to now discover that this had occurred so many times before and the airlines and manufacturers do not appear to have done anything about it."
According to an interim report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), BA had failed to close the fan cowl doors properly during maintenance checks the night before.
But the passengers have filed a lawsuit in Illinois against the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and International Aero Engines (IAE), who designed and manufactured the engines, not against British Airways.
The law firms representing the group – Chicago-based Wisner Law Firm and London-based Stewarts Law – said the issue with the cowl doors had occurred over 30 times before but both Airbus and IAE "did not appear to implement adequate corrective measures for this issue".
A spokesman for Stewarts Law said no lawsuit has been filed against BA because international law prevents claims for emotional distress against airlines.
The two law firms recently resolved similar claims against Boeing and Rolls Royce brought in the US on behalf of 65 passengers and crew of BA Flight 038 which crashed in January 2008 while attempting to land at Heathrow a result of the fuel to the engines freezing.
They also successfully resolved claims against Airbus and others on behalf of more than 175 passengers of Qantas Flight 072 which went into two uncommanded dives due to a computer malfunction during a flight from Singapore to Perth, Australia in October 2008.
They are currently representing over 100 passengers in a US lawsuit against Boeing and others who were involved in the Lot Flight 016 gear-up landing at Chopin airport in Warsaw, Poland on 1 November 2011.
Other passengers who may have suffered similar injuries on board BA Flight 762 are invited to contact the law firms in relation to any assistance they may require by email to [email protected] or by calling 0044 207 822 8000.
The Stewarts Law spokesman said a few more passengers had already been in contact and he expects around 65 passengers and crew to be part of the final group.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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