Breaking News! Firefly Flight Crash Lands!

[Adrian Wong]

OMG... My brother just called me up (21st Dec 2007, 1:40 pm) from Subang airport. His plane which was flying from Subang to Penang just crash-landed at Subang airport!

His 12:40 pm flight to Penang was on a Fokker turboprop which lost the LEFT engine 20 minutes into the flight. The pilot tried restarting the engine for 10 minutes but failed. He then turned the plane back and told the passengers they were returning to Subang. Right after that, the RIGHT engine cut out too! This time, he did not tell the passengers that they were out of engines....

Fortunately, they managed to glide all the way back to Subang airport. But the plane landed so hard, the tyres burst on hitting the runway. The plane is now TOTALLED.

There is currently a BIG commotion at Subang airport where the passengers are all hysterical about what happened. Firefly claims the plane is brand-new and they REFUSE to provide any compensation, or transfer them to another airline. They are only going to replace the plane with another Fokker turboprop.

Update #1 : They didn't tell the passengers that the second engine died. In fact, the pilot only informed the passengers about the problem with the first engine AFTER he turned the plane around.

Update #2 : They are only going to replace the flight with a new plane at 4:30 pm. They just chased them out of the terminal and did not even provide them with food and drinks.

Update #3 : FireFly claimed it was an electrical problem.

Update #4 : Quite a few passengers did not even know they had been gliding back to Subang with no running engines. They saw the propellers windmilling and probably thought they were still running.

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Wrote this letter to FireFly (Breaking News! Firefly Flight Crash Lands!, 21st Dec 2007, 04:22 PM) :

Hi, I'm writing on behalf of my brother who just had the dubious pleasure of being part of your 12:40 pm flight from Subang to Penang. This was the flight that just crash-landed at Subang airport at around 1:10-1:30 pm after losing BOTH engines mid-flight.

As I understand it, not only did your personnel refuse to compensate the passengers, or transfer them to a different airline (who blames them for being scared shitless?), they actually told the passengers to either cancel their flight or wait for a 4:30 pm flight.

They were then unceremoniously "chased" out of the terminal. Your personnel did not even have the courtesy of providing them with any food or beverage while they waited.

I personally find this callous treatment completely unacceptable. You may be a budget airline but this kind of treatment is totally uncalled for. People almost DIED.

If my brother did not have to catch a connecting flight in Penang, like so many of the passengers, you wouldn't have been able to get away with such bad service.

I have already written in to the newspapers and posted it online over here - Breaking News! Firefly Flight Crash Lands!

I await your response.

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Got this drone reply from FireFly (Breaking News! Firefly Flight Crash Lands!, 22nd Dec 2007, 04:42 PM) :

Dear Sir,

Greetings from Firefly. Thanks for bringing this issue and we will further investigating this matter and shall revert to you as soon as possible.

By the way , please kindly refer to our terms and conditions in clause
9 which stated in our website.

9.1 Schedules: We will use our best endeavours to adhere to the schedules which we have published which are in effect on the date of travel. However, times shown in timetables, schedules or elsewhere are subject to change at any time and from time to time and we shall not be liable in any way whatsoever for any loss incurred by Passengers as a result of such change.

9.2 Cancellation, Changes of Schedules: At any time after a booking has been made we may change our schedules and/or cancel, terminate, divert, postpone, reschedule or delay any flight where we reasonably consider to be justified by circumstances beyond our control or for reasons of safety or commercial reasons. In the event of such flight cancellation, we shall at our option, either:

a. carry you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your booking; or

b. If you elect for a refund, we shall refund you as follows:
- If no portion of the fare has been utilized, an amount equal to the Tariff (which includes the fare and all Charges)
- If the Passenger has utilized a portion of the fare, an amount equal to the unused portion of the fare and all Charges related to such unused portion.

9.3 Sole remedies: Upon the occurrence of any of the events set out in Clause 9.2, the options outlined in Clause 9.2 (a) to (b) are the sole and exclusive remedies available to you and we shall have no further liability to you.

Refer to the clause above, we hope to seek for your understanding that there is no compensation and our sincere apologise for any inconvenience caused.

And this was my reply to that officious letter :

Dear Firefly Team,

Before writing to you, I have already read the terms and conditions. Now, I'm no lawyer, but even I can tell you that those terms refer ONLY to cancellations and changes of schedules.

Please do let me know where it actually refers to your liability when you put the lives of your passengers at risk. Do you understand that those passengers ALMOST DIED?

I do not think it was your pilot's fault. In fact, I believe he was an exceptional pilot who managed to save those passengers' lives and save Firefly from being the first airline to kill their passengers in the first months of operation.

I did not write to you to complain about the delay of the flight. I wrote to you in GREAT concern over your company's apparent LACK of concern over the whole issue. Does it require an actual plane crash for you to admit that you made a mistake and need to correct it?

Your plane lost TWO engines in mid-flight. Any pilot can tell you that losing two engines and not being able to restart them is extremely rare, if not unheard of. it also points to an inherent fault in the plane or its maintenance / inspection.

So I put it you to, SIR, that it was your company's fault that that flight almost crashed after losing two engines. If you do not value your passengers' safety and lives, I will do everything I can to make sure no one else risks their lives on your flights.

Right now, I'm not even going to go into the part where your company personnel not only refused to transfer the passengers to other airliners, they also did not have the courtesy to provide them with refreshments while waiting for another flight. Obviously, your company has a LOT to learn about service.

Right now, I want to know what happened, how did it happen and what your company is going to do about the problem and the near-death experience you gave the passengers AND aircrew on the flight.

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Just wrote this letter to The Star and The Sun :

Dear Editor,

I'm writing in referral to the story in The Star about the Firefly plane which returned to Subang after take-off (Plane forced to fly back to Subang).

Unless this is referring to a similar incident affecting a different Firefly plane at the same time, the details in the story are wrong and misleading.

First of all, the flight was not to Kuala Terengganu, but to Penang. The plane also did not suffer from an "irregularity in one of the engine's functions". To put it simply, the plane's left engine failed 20 minutes into the flight.

The pilot attempted to restart the engine for some time. When he failed, he turned the plane around and told the passengers they were going back because they just lost an engine. That was when they lost the SECOND engine but the pilot did not inform the passengers.

The plane had to glide all the way back to Subang without any engine power. When the pilot made it to Subang, he had to land the plane so hard that the tyres burst on impact.

The passengers were then hustled out of the plane and the terminal. They were NOT provided with any snacks or refreshments, as Firefly claimed.

I know this for a fact because my brother was on the flight. An off-duty flight engineer was also onboard. I'm sure Firefly's managing director, Eddy Leong, should have no problem contacting the flight engineer (or the air crew) to get his facts right.

I have written about this very matter to Firefly and received nothing more than an automated response, denying their liability. So, I'm very sure Firefly knows exactly what went wrong. It is appalling that they have attempted to cover up this near disaster in the media.

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December 24, 2007 (1:45 pm)

Here's an update....

According to a source I spoke to, that plane was NOT a new plane as Firefly claimed. Not that old planes are not reliable, but they do require stringent maintenance to ensure maximum reliability. Also, as old planes, Firefly cannot claim that the electrical problem was a "teething issue" or something they can blame Fokker for.

Right now, Firefly only has THREE Fokker planes with the registration numbers 9M-MGF, 9M-MGI and 9M-MDG. Their new planes are not due to arrive until July 2008.

So I wonder why Firefly told the passengers that they did not understand why the incident happened because "the plane was new". LIARS.

[strawroot]

that's very bad of firefly. i think their biz wont last long this way

[goldfries]

got the msg from Adrian.

damn this is like Con-Air or something. WTH......... my be freaked out man.

waiting for more headlines. well, good thing your brother is safe......... btw which brother is this?

[marc]

OMG. Thank God your brother is safe.

This Firefly, crashed before and now this again.

[Falcone]

Wow!!! Unbelievable, guess I won't fly firefly anymore.

Let's be greatful that everyone is fine.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by goldfries

got the msg from Adrian.

damn this is like Con-Air or something. WTH......... my be freaked out man.

waiting for more headlines. well, good thing your brother is safe......... btw which brother is this?

It was Alan. He's damn freaked out now cause he was sitting NEXT to the right engine. He actually saw the engine die.

They didn't tell the passengers that the second engine died. A flight engineer who was on the flight said most of the passengers did not know how lucky they were.

[goldfries]

brbrbr brbbrbr brbr brbbrbrb .......... brrbp..........brprp......... brppo................. *eerie silence*

[Adrian Wong]

Wow.. This is too much. They are only going to replace the flight with a new plane at 4:30 pm.

They just chased them out of the terminal and did not even provide them with food and drinks.

[Falcone]

At least Air Asia has the tendency to provide light refreshments should their flight is delayed.

[marc]

Originally Posted by Falcone

At least Air Asia has the tendency to provide light refreshments should their flight is delayed.

I think they had 'cover-up!' on their minds to think of anything else.