Report tells of communications breakdown in mid-air fire scare

ALARMED cabin crew feared that two pilots had been knocked unconscious or that a serious emergency had developed on an Aberdeen to London flight.

It was revealed yesterday that repeated attempts by cabin attendants to contact the pilots by telephone failed during a fire scare as a Flybe jet with 40 passengers on board flew over Edinburgh.

A report issued by the government's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) has also disclosed that an emergency flight deck access system failed to function during the scare in January last year.

The senior cabin crew member spotted "ice blue smoke" coming from the galley sink after he poured water into the basin.

There were no signs of combustion but both flight deck and cabin crews took "appropriate emergency action." As part of the emergency procedures the flight crew disarmed the emergency lighting, causing all the lights in the cabin to go off .

The pilots switched to an emergency power system without informing the cabin crew.

The AAIB has made a series of recommendations following the incident to address the "deficiencies in the interphone system". These include the need to modify the system to enable flight and cabin crews to make both normal and emergency calls when the aircraft is being supplied with emergency electrical power.

The report adds that, on emergency power, the flight deck access system does not function. But the crew had not been made aware of the situation during their training.

A spokeswoman for Flybe said: "We have worked closely with the manufacturer of the aircraft to successfully remedy the communication issue."