Naked and drugged steward, fire on board, plane too heavy... The weekend's air incidents

Every minute, tens of thousands of planes are simultaneously in the air, all over the world. While the vast majority take off and land without incident, incidents of varying severity regularly disrupt the flying experience . This weekend, an American Airlines plane was diverted due to an onboard fire, while a British Airways flight attendant was convicted after being found naked and drugged in the toilet.

Earlier this month, the British airline had to disembark around twenty passengers due to weight issues. This happened on August 11th on a flight from Florence, Italy, to London, The Sun reported on Saturday. Due to the high temperatures—around 35 degrees at the time of takeoff—the air was less dense, and the aircraft, an Embraer ERJ-190, needed extra fuel at the last minute to be able to take off.

Skip the ad

This surplus had to be compensated for by the disembarkation of 20 unfortunate passengers. "The staff explained to us that 36 people were supposed to disembark, but in the end, only about twenty got off the plane," explained one passenger. British Airways apologized to those affected and assured that it had "worked hard" to get them to their destination "as quickly as possible."

This Friday, August 22, in London, a 41-year-old flight attendant for the British airline pleaded guilty to performing his duties under the influence of drugs. Several British media outlets, including The Guardian , reported that he was found "completely naked" and drugged in the lavatory of a flight from San Francisco to London. His colleagues described him as "agitated, sweaty, and slurring his words" before takeoff. The incriminated flight attendant was fired by British Airways. Released on bail, he will be sentenced at a later date.

But the real scare of the weekend was for the 160 passengers on the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia on Saturday, in the United States. While it was scheduled to land in Phoenix , the plane was diverted to Washington after a fire broke out mid-flight. According to ABC News , an electronic device belonging to a passenger caught fire. "I smelled smoke and a lot of passengers were coughing on the plane," said one passenger. The situation was already under control upon landing, before the firefighters intervened on the tarmac.