Sri Lankan Airlines / British Airways

[Overdrive]

Heathrow Airport

BA and Sri Lankan planes collided at Heathrow

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

British Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines planes collided yesterday (15 October 2007) at Heathrow Airport as Telegraph.co.uk reported. The collision took place while the two planes preparing to take off. According to witnesses in the scene, part of a BA Boeing 747 plane engine fell onto the runway and collided with the tip of the wing of an Sri Lankan Airlines Airbus A340.

Authorities have already started investigate what cause the accident while no one is reported to be injured.

The British Airways plane flight was heading to Singapore while the Sri Lankan Airlines plane was heading to Maldives.

No statements have been made so far by BA and Heathrow Airport authorities.

Michael Verikios - Tuesday, October 16, 2007

[ruwds]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7046931.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...6/nplane116.xml

its part of the wing as seen n told by bbc..yet telegraph says part of engine :lol:

Edited October 19, 2007 by ruwds

[Mean Green z28]

OOPS!!! Look like the SL plane tried to do a move like in colombo streets and squeeze past and hit the wing tip and sliced it off ... *so sad* but still laughing

[VVTi]

OOPS!!! Look like the SL plane tried to do a move like in colombo streets and squeeze past and hit the wing tip and sliced it off ... *so sad* but still laughing

Does c******o V*P On The Spot cover this sort of thing......?

[gunat]

Officially, SL was cleared of any wrong doing.

The error was that of the Tower control, by allowing two large aircraft onto the same approach. The SL pilot had actually deviated 3 metres off the instructed course thinking they're too close...and yet it happened. Anyway, our plane's back in service, although the BA 747 needs a new winglet...

[The Don]

Officially, SL was cleared of any wrong doing.

The error was that of the Tower control, by allowing two large aircraft onto the same approach. The SL pilot had actually deviated 3 metres off the instructed course thinking they're too close...and yet it happened. Anyway, our plane's back in service, although the BA 747 needs a new winglet...

Thats good news,

Very ironic this accident had to involve one of our planes since its one of the worlds busiest airports, so many air craft processed per day, and ours is a very small fleet

the last time this happened it involved to BA planes, its interesting to see another BA plane involved in the incident, maybe its an issue with Terminal 4 which is used by few other aircraft apart from BA

[ruwds]

Thats good news,

Very ironic this accident had to involve one of our planes since its one of the worlds busiest airports, so many air craft processed per day, and ours is a very small fleet

the last time this happened it involved to BA planes, its interesting to see another BA plane involved in the incident, maybe its an issue with Terminal 4 which is used by few other aircraft apart from BA

though sl airlines gt a very small fleet...the no. of flights r a lot! plus they do so many roundtrips. when i was comin to sl for summer... the plane gt to heathrow late frm sl n then took off late to sl..same when returning too. flight frm uk was late to arrive in sl n so was the journey bck..

[weed]

This is a made up story

[miniace]

There is absolutely no thruth behind Srilankan aircrafts aircrafts exceeding permitted times, pilots overworked and flights getting delayed.Our Airbus fleet is always within hours fown minima.Pilots are well within flight duty times and flight times restrictions imposed by ICAO and DGCA SL.Infact Srilankan airlines limitations are lot less than requested.

Talking about flights getting delayed always and mainly caused by other factors such as holding times, enroute traffic,high speed approach (desced) speed restrictions, passenger embarking/disembarking delays, inflight services hold-ups (eg-food delivered late).Delay of flight departure/arrival is a global issue and not limited to Srilankan airlines.No recent maintenance or snags caused a significant delay in any Srilankan AL flight recently.

About the recent incident in London-the blame always goes to the ATC tower.When two heavy jets are permitted to taxy prellel the should be monitored closely by London ground radars especially in the night.pilots cant deviate from lighted taxiway center.The primary incident report is yet to be made public.

Please stop blaming Srilankan airlines based on erroneous accusations.

MINIACE

[The Don]

There is absolutely no thruth behind Srilankan aircrafts aircrafts exceeding permitted times, pilots overworked and flights getting delayed.Our Airbus fleet is always within hours fown minima.Pilots are well within flight duty times and flight times restrictions imposed by ICAO and DGCA SL.Infact Srilankan airlines limitations are lot less than requested.

Talking about flights getting delayed always and mainly caused by other factors such as holding times, enroute traffic,high speed approach (desced) speed restrictions, passenger embarking/disembarking delays, inflight services hold-ups (eg-food delivered late).Delay of flight departure/arrival is a global issue and not limited to Srilankan airlines.No recent maintenance or snags caused a significant delay in any Srilankan AL flight recently.

About the recent incident in London-the blame always goes to the ATC tower.When two heavy jets are permitted to taxy prellel the should be monitored closely by London ground radars especially in the night.pilots cant deviate from lighted taxiway center.The primary incident report is yet to be made public.

Please stop blaming Srilankan airlines based on erroneous accusations.

MINIACE

Miniace, nobody is blaming SL Airlines for anything here I think Ruwds was simply sharing her own experiences with the Airline

I personally am very glad that SL airlines have been cleared especially with a Sri Lankan pilot at the helm, I noticed some time back SL airlines had advertised for pilots on their web site, but requested only non SL Nationals to apply which I thought was ridiculous being the national career.

I myself would personally never wish to put down our national airline, but being a regular flier on the London to Colombo route I would say in flight service standards have suffered and some of the Gulfian airlines sadly provide a much better service and flexibility. And I do not mean flight delays, thats sadly something you have to face, and to be honest I'd rather a flight be delayed due to technical reasons for the fault to be fixed, rather than be allowed to fly and have an accident. And miniace is correct, a lot of the delays at Heathrow is down to it being so busy, and only having 2 runways !!!

[miniace]

Miniace, nobody is blaming SL Airlines for anything here I think Ruwds was simply sharing her own experiences with the Airline

I personally am very glad that SL airlines have been cleared especially with a Sri Lankan pilot at the helm, I noticed some time back SL airlines had advertised for pilots on their web site, but requested only non SL Nationals to apply which I thought was ridiculous being the national career.

I myself would personally never wish to put down our national airline, but being a regular flier on the London to Colombo route I would say in flight service standards have suffered and some of the Gulfian airlines sadly provide a much better service and flexibility. And I do not mean flight delays, thats sadly something you have to face, and to be honest I'd rather a flight be delayed due to technical reasons for the fault to be fixed, rather than be allowed to fly and have an accident. And miniace is correct, a lot of the delays at Heathrow is down to it being so busy, and only having 2 runways !!!

Agree! We all share flight delay experiences,sometimes nasty ones.Thats quite common isnt it? Not limited to Srilankan airlines.Its very unfortunate that complaints against cabin crew and inflight services increased recently.mainly by locals

There are many opportunities for local pilots to join as cadets and junior first officers.Type rated -experienced non SL pilots can join as direct First officers and Captains too.Nothing wrong with pilots intake policy.Thats the global criteria.

MINIACE

[SeanD]

Its very unfortunate that complaints against cabin crew and inflight services increased recently.mainly by locals

Then it is up to the cabin staff to get their act together. I used to fly Sri Lankan regularly in the 90s (mainly before Emirates got involved) and man was the service lovely or what. Even in economy class you felt like you were flying first class (back when SLA had one). After many years I finally flew Sri lankan this year, and was utterly disgusted with the attitudes of the female staff. The male staff were much nicer, but the female staff were condescending and downright rude, and on one occasion I saw the person in front of me having to ring the bell around 5 times for around 10 mins to get the attention of the stewardess who turned out to be actually standing just a few rows behind me and ignoring the call. I did fill in that feedback form you get in the SLA magazine, but I don't know if that actually does any good or not. Apparently they still win awards for best cabin service in Asia or something, kinda surprising because Singapore Airlines gives way better service. God only knows how they're judging this.

[Ripper]

Then it is up to the cabin staff to get their act together. I used to fly Sri Lankan regularly in the 90s (mainly before Emirates got involved) and man was the service lovely or what. Even in economy class you felt like you were flying first class (back when SLA had one). After many years I finally flew Sri lankan this year, and was utterly disgusted with the attitudes of the female staff. The male staff were much nicer, but the female staff were condescending and downright rude, and on one occasion I saw the person in front of me having to ring the bell around 5 times for around 10 mins to get the attention of the stewardess who turned out to be actually standing just a few rows behind me and ignoring the call. I did fill in that feedback form you get in the SLA magazine, but I don't know if that actually does any good or not. Apparently they still win awards for best cabin service in Asia or something, kinda surprising because Singapore Airlines gives way better service. God only knows how they're judging this.

I'm with you mate

I think the cabin crew is especially more rude to locals. I have mix experiences with some folks being really nice and some being downright stupid.

and once when i had an issue over trying to get a flight attendant to clear up my coffee even after many attempts at the bell nobody came to clear up my tray until we were on approach to the airport. that also the gentleman next to me managed to get the attention of the head steward who quickly sorted it out..

the best part the feedback form i had on my seat was already filled by another passenger and not been taken by the crew so chances are that they don't give two hoots about what you write there...

I fly sri lankan with patriotism...i don't think the crew respect that effort

[The Don]

Hi Ripper and SeanD,

For a country known for its hospitality, the service delivered on Sri Lankan airlines is not satisfactory. I think its because for some odd reason, the air hostesses and stewards seem to have grown a superiority complex especially with regards to their not so affluent clientèle

I mean I had the misfortune of flying Sri Lankan airlines to Dubai, and Doha and once from Muscat on route back to Colombo, and I must say I was quite appalled by the service that the returning workers were getting. Now this much was true, they were proving quite a handful, was difficult to control, noisy drunk, one even tried to smoke while in flight !! and a friend of mine told me of the appalling of toilets in these flights, but in my opinion now of these issues can be used to justify the lack of good service,

Attendants were not answering attendant calls

Refreshments were not being distributed on time and the trays cleared

Some attendants were down right rude to some passengers

But I think what the hostesses and stewards seem to have forgotten is, from whichever background these people cam from, they are still fee paying customers and thus should be treated as such. That is what they signed up to do, thats what they are being paid to do, and these people are paying their salaries. In my opinion it was an absolute disgrace,

Even sadder I have flown the same routes with other airlines such as Qatar and Etihad and I must say the service given by stewards and hostesses in those flights were exceptional especially under the above mentioned difficult working conditions. They were never less than polite, and I do not think anybody can complain about the service they got.

I wonder if any of your had this problem, but once Sri Lankan airlines managed to loose a piece of luggage belonging to me, and when I went to the lost baggage counter I was told my bag was still in Heathrow !!!. Then the gentleman there asked, which country's passport did I hold, and I very proudly said "Sri Lankan", but then to my utter dismay this guy tells me, that if I had a foreign passport they can clear my luggage and have it delivered to my home, but since I had a Sri Lankan passport, I had to come and clear and collect my bag myself. You can understand how disappointed I was with this policy (which might be down to Sri Lankan customs maybe but still) because I was going for a short holiday and to waste one day of it to come and collect my bag, which was entirely caused by a cock up by Sri Lankan airlines was quite a loss, even though they offered to compensate my traveling cost, but yet they could not compensate me for my time !!!.

The really sad thing for me was the same happened to me in Newcastle (again another SL Airlines cock up) but British Airways who were baggage handling agents for SL Airlines, delivered my bag right to my door step. So you can imagine how I felt when the above happened to me in Colombo airport.

Miniace

The only issue I had was with the fact that when I viewed this advertisement there was a conditioned attached to it that the post (pilot officer) was only open to foreign applicants. And I am quite sure about that fact. Now maybe the airline policy has changed now, but for the National Carrier to operate such a policy even momentarily seems quite absurd to me. They should give preference to Sri Lankan pilots of same qualifications and experience if they are in fact available.

The Don

[SeanD]

I wonder if any of your had this problem, but once Sri Lankan airlines managed to loose a piece of luggage belonging to me, and when I went to the lost baggage counter I was told my bag was still in Heathrow !!!. Then the gentleman there asked, which country's passport did I hold, and I very proudly said "Sri Lankan", but then to my utter dismay this guy tells me, that if I had a foreign passport they can clear my luggage and have it delivered to my home, but since I had a Sri Lankan passport, I had to come and clear and collect my bag myself. You can understand how disappointed I was with this policy (which might be down to Sri Lankan customs maybe but still) because I was going for a short holiday and to waste one day of it to come and collect my bag, which was entirely caused by a cock up by Sri Lankan airlines was quite a loss, even though they offered to compensate my traveling cost, but yet they could not compensate me for my time !!!.

This happened to me in December 05, when I transferred from Singapore airlines to Sri Lankan at Singapore when flying back from US. Unfortunately Sri Lankan decided not to send my bag with the flight and it had mysteriously been offloaded at the brief stop in Malaysia But they did deliver it home to me for free (on condition that they keep my passport until the delivery). Otherwise, I believe they offer to 'pay your travel expenses' to come to the airport and collect it. Maybe that was only introduced fairly recently, probably after your incident. I fully agree with what you say about the attitudes towards the passengers, i know some international school girls are now going in to be stewardesses, and the ones i know were rather snobbish so i have no idea how they'd tolerate the more rowdy passengers As far as I can see, things have gone rather badly since AirLanka became Sri Lankan, but I'll continue to support the airline as long as its at least tolerable.

Edited October 22, 2007 by SeanD

[The Don]

This happened to me in December 05, when I transferred from Singapore airlines to Sri Lankan at Singapore when flying back from US. Unfortunately Sri Lankan decided not to send my bag with the flight and it had mysteriously been offloaded at the brief stop in Malaysia But they did deliver it home to me for free (on condition that they keep my passport until the delivery). Otherwise, I believe they offer to 'pay your travel expenses' to come to the airport and collect it. Maybe that was only introduced fairly recently, probably after your incident. I fully agree with what you say about the attitudes towards the passengers, i know some international school girls are now going in to be stewardesses, and the ones i know were rather snobbish so i have no idea how they'd tolerate the more rowdy passengers As far as I can see, things have gone rather badly since AirLanka became Sri Lankan, but I'll continue to support the airline as long as its at least tolerable.

Well you were lucky, maybe its a step introduced recently, But delays, lost baggage, these are common problems with airlines, and most of the time has nothing to do with the airlines themselves, but the issue of inflight service is one that will need to be resolved else Sri Lankan airlines. I do not know to compare Airlanka with Sri lankan airlines because I never flew when it was Air Lanka, and I am yet to fly Emirates to compare and contrast as well. The sad thing is its not really the fact that these people are Sri Lankan, as most Middle Eastern airlines also use Sri Lankan stewards and hostesses on SL bound flights, but the culture within Sri Lankan airlines with regards to Sri Lankan passengers.

Another interesting thing when it comes airlines etc in SL are the marketing agents, you can never get any sense out of the sales counters of an airline if you phone them up directly, as they speak to you as if you are a travel agent, and use the terms of the industry. I mean all you really want to know is how much it costs including tax (no point telling you the tax amount separately cos you do not have an option not to pay it do you !!!) and confusing you with tax codes and other gibberish is just not helpful !! especially after you have explained you are not a travel agent !! The agents for Cathay Pacific airlines was pretty good the last time I spoke to them.