This article is from page 4 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A PACKED passenger jet travelled almost 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean with a gaping hole in one of the its wing flaps, but the damage went undetected until the plane landed at NJetvevslelswaeeu seu m
It was only after the scheduled Del- ta Airlines flight from New York’s JFK International Airport arrived at Shannon on Friday morning that the damage to the flap and a tyre were spotted.
The outer tread of one tyre on the Boeing 757 jet was completely miss-
ing. However, the main highly pres- surised section of tyre remained in- tact.
It is understood that the tread shred- ded during or soon after take-off in New York and a piece of rubber pen- etrated the wing flap.
The Delta aircraft was grounded for further inspection and repairs by aircraft maintenance company Shan- non Aerospace. The hole in the flap was described as “sizeable”.
According to an airport source, “If the damage had been spotted when the incident occurred the pilot would have had to declare and emergency and land at the nearest airport im-
mediately.”
Airport sources also said the crew and passengers on board the flight were oblivious to the incident, heard nothing out of the ordinary and saw no debris or damage to the flap. There was no indication in the cockpit at any time that anything had occurred while the plane continued to function and land without difficulty.
The Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport has confirmed that it 1s investigating the matter.
Meanwhile two aircraft have made emergency diversions to Shannon in the past few days.
On Friday evening a transatlantic jet which was almost half way across the Atlantic was forced to Shannon after one of its two engines failed in jubheaale
The Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200, with 144 passengers on board, touched down safely after the pilot managed to restart the troubled engine shortly before arriving at Shannon.
On Monday morning a _ female member of the cabin crew of a Virgin Atlantic flight from Boston to Lon- don was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital with suspected appendicitis.