A British Airways Boeing 777 faces an extended stay on the ground in Cape Town after an expensive incident occurred yesterday. The front left door was ripped off the aircraft, with sources suggesting that the plane was pushed back with the jetbridge still attached to the plane.
Doors are a crucial yet surprisingly complex part of an aircraft. While the front door of your home likely sits on two or three simple hinges, most aircraft doors have a mechanism that allows them to move along the side of the aircraft instead of rotating on an axis to open.
A headache in Cape Town
Yesterday, British Airways faced a headache with one of its planes in Cape Town. G-YMMH departed from London on Wednesday evening and landed in Cape Town half an hour early at 07:31, according to data from FlightRadar24.com.
The aircraft is typically expected to be on the ground in Cape Town for around 12 hours. Rather than occupying a gate all day, the plane is moved to a parking stand for much of the day. This is standard practice at busy airports, as it allows the gate to be used for other flights, and parking stands cost less to occupy than gates.
British Airways Boeing 777-300ER – Cape Town International Airport International Terminal – 26 January 2022.
“That’ll Buff Right Out!” pic.twitter.com/3pB6p55t3g
— Ivan Leon (@IvanLeonZA) January 26, 2022
It seems that yesterday’s incident occurred as the aircraft was being sent towards its parking stand for the day. The door came off the plane while it was being towed with no passengers onboard. It has been suggested that the jetbridge was left attached to the aircraft, ripping off the door as the plane was pushed past it.
Slight inconvenience for passengers
G-YMMH now won’t be able to leave Cape Town until the door has been repaired and reattached or replaced. Naturally, this means that flight BA 42 back to London was canceled. With an 11-12 hour flight time, it would’ve been hard to get a replacement aircraft out in time and potentially impractical. However, British Airways has pulled off such feats before.
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Speaking to Simple Flying, a British Airways spokesperson commented,
“We have apologised to our customers for the slight delay to their departure from Cape Town due to an issue with the original aircraft. Our customers continued safely on their way to London on an alternative service.”
The canceled BA 42 flight was due to depart from Cape Town at 20:50 local time. Another flight, BA 58, was scheduled to leave the city at 18:55. This flight was delayed until 20:50 to allow the passengers on the canceled flight to take it. Given low load factors, it was possible to combine both flights without turning away any passengers.
Have you ever seen a door ripped off of a Boeing 777? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!
