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Journalism of Courage
Phil Hardy, a 41-year-old British traveller, played an unexpected hero role, prompting the cancellation of Flight VS127 at Manchester airport on January 15. The incident unfolded after a routine safety briefing for passengers on the Airbus A330 aircraft.
Hardy expressed his initial concern for his partner, stating, “I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I could.”
Faced with a crucial decision, Hardy informed the cabin crew, leading to a series of events that resulted in the flight’s cancellation.
Engineers were promptly dispatched to conduct thorough maintenance inspections on the damaged Airbus A330. A Virgin Atlantic official assured customers that safety is the airline’s top priority and that no passengers or crew members were at risk during the incident. The decision to cancel the flight allowed for additional engineering maintenance tests as a precautionary measure.
Watch the video below:
A video of the incident, now viral on social media platforms, especially on X, has raised concerns among netizens. One user commented, “I’ve said this a thousand times but at this point, I might as well just get an RV and a road map. I can never fly anywhere nowadays.” Another expressed fear, saying, “if im just going to somewhere in the US then i have no issue driving. in fact its actually more fun to drive thru the country :)?”
“probably missing the captive nuts for the screws too lol,” wrote a third user.
A previous incident involved an Alaska Airlines passenger aircraft in the US, making an emergency landing due to a window and a piece of the fuselage detaching mid-flight. Fortunately, none of the approximately 180 passengers or crew members were harmed during the incident in the Pacific Coast state of Oregon. The Boeing 737 MAX 9 landed safely with 171 passengers and six cabin crew members after the window broke and the fuselage piece detached 35 minutes after takeoff.
