Surely one of the first lessons an airline pilot learns is never to leave the passengers in any doubt about their safety. The pilot of the GB Airways flight I caught yesterday from Tenerife to London had clearly forgotten it. The flight had been due to leave at 1950 and was taxiing when we were told that there was a fault with the engine or with an engine indicator and we would have to disembark. We were called to board again around 2230. As we prepared for take-off, we were told: “The good news is that the engineers found the problem and it looks as though they have sorted it. So, fingers crossed…”
For the rest of the flight, he must have been crossing his fingers for a different reason. Shortly after take-off, one of the crew asked whether there was a doctor on board; a passenger had been taken ill at the back of the aircraft. When we landed, that passenger was still in a bad way and went straight into an ambulance.