tuonopepper

Tonight's BA1402 returned to stand at LHR after wed pushed back and sat on the taxi way for 10 minutes, they couldn't get the main boarding door to arm so we're unable to despatch the aircraft.

Back on stand and 10 minutes later all fixed, a small piece of plastic blocking the signal on the Microsoft microswitch......got me thinking that's pretty bizarre but I'm sure there's worse.

Woodbinerich

It's fair enough as they're needed in an emergency, but we once had an hours delay as a battery on a megaphone was flat and they needed to go to stores to get a spare.

JD1905

That’s interesting - i’ve been on a flight with a broken PA System which was still able to depart (they didn’t bother using the megaphones)

Woodbinerich

From what I understand CAA regulations require a megaphone per certain number of pax in order for the cabin crew to manage an emergency evacuation .

see below.

Aeroplanes with an MOPSC of more than 60 and carrying at least one passenger shall be equipped with the following quantities of portable battery-powered megaphones readily accessible for use by crew members during an emergency evacuation:

(a) For each passenger deck:

Table 1 Number of megaphones
Passenger seating configuration Number of megaphones 61 to 99 1
100 or more 2
(b) For aeroplanes with more than one passenger deck, in all cases when the total passenger seating configuration is more than 60, at least one megaphone

Sigwx

A look at any aircraft’s Master Minimum Equipment List is quite illuminating on this one.
If you google ‘(generic aircraft type eg A320) MMEL’ or ‘B737 MMEL’ you’ll probably find a downloadable pdf someone has put online of a couple of hundred pages length. That’ll hold all the ATA chapters you need to find the real stoppers to aviation which might surprise you.

flygirl68

Yeah the megaphones are just for emergency use, contrary to what one of the members of a boyband thought on the upper deck of a 747…..I couldn’t help myself and just came out with a very unprofessional “Oi!!” 🫣

HIDDY

It didn't go tech but I was once on a near empty BA INV-GLA Viscount. Shortly after taking off the Captain came on and said he hoped we wouldn't mind stopping off at ABZ along the way. Turned out the ABZ-GLA flight had gone tech and he had been contacted to go via ABZ to pick up the passengers. I wasn't in any rush so it didn't bother me.

Waterhorse

Caledonian had a L1011 stuck in Heraklion one night because the crew could not close the door, neither could the engineer. The door was electrically operated, if the opening mechanism was exposed outside the aircraft (a pop cover) then the internal door switches (the ones the crew used) were isolated. It was a system to prevent dual inputs in the circuit and potential motor burnout.

Anyway, this little gem caused an unscheduled night stop for the crew and 400 passengers discommoded. On a brighter note, knowing about it got me a job😁

Not strictly a tech problem, more a knowledge ( or lack of) problem

HSR1234

Drifting off topic, but around 40 years ago I was flying from Christchurch to Mount Cook in NZ. It turned out I was the only passenger going to mount cook, the plane was going on to queenstown, so the pilot decided they would take me to mount cook on the way back!

Oxon Flyer

Microswitch. Microsoft going tech happens all the time.

adrianlondon

*googles discommoded* ooo, job well deserved!

BA or bust

Did you do a flygirl68 and shout Oi?

BOH

A "Microsoft" switch? . I remember micro-switches from my aircraft maintenance days, they are a total PITA as usually are very sensitive and if you get them out of adjustment by just 1-2mm they don't sense what they should be sensing!

Weirdest one I had was on a BA flight I had about 5 years ago on an A320. As we taxied out to the runway at LHR we went over a bump in the taxiway and a row of 3 oxygen masks dropped down about 10 seat rows behind me. So we returned to the stand, the first officer came out from the cockpit and after a bit of head-scratching and umming and aah-ing had a go at popping the panel back up, followed by the captain too who tried various directions and angles to try and re-insert it....but alas, every attempt resulted in it falling down again After about 20 minutes of trying, a ground crew chap boarded and did it instantly at first attempt, much to the amusement of the passengers. He almost seemed to do it without even looking!

Another BA one was the overwing emergency door slide pressure bottle was too low when we were returning from LIN to LHR. This resulted in all the pax being removed from that row (and upgraded to CE....yay) and a ground crew member very carefully taping across the door multiple times with that stripy tape you see at police incidents. Amusingly he didn't just put one across or maybe two diagonally from corner to corner in an "X" arrangement, he must have put about 12 lengths of tape arranged like the spokes of a cartwheel, all done very carefully to get them perfectly symmetrical.

T8191

Ha! Me too! Is this a common issue, I wonder? Or were we on the same flight (LGW s/h)?

Sigwx

Several years ago now a stuck anti-ice valve on a gin clear, hot July day on a domestic during a heatwave without a cloud on the sky over the entirety of the UK.