A passenger noticed missing screws on the plane’s wing, leading Virgin Atlantic to cancel a scheduled flight from Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City, ABC7 reported on Monday.
During a passenger safety briefing on January 15, British traveler Phil Hardy, 41, discovered four missing fasteners while on Flight VS127.
Hardy quickly alerted the cabin crew to ensure everyone’s safety.
When Hardy saw the missing fasteners, he told Kennedy News, “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 ease as much as I could.”
“I thought it was best to mention it to a flight attendant to be on the safe side.”
Hardy became increasingly concerned despite frequent assurances from airline personnel that the wing’s safety remained unchanged, especially after an Alaska Airlines plane lost a door plug and part of its fuselage in midair.
The Airbus A330 was called in for an inspection by engineers prior to its planned takeoff. Hardy was able to film an engineer replacing missing bolts with a screwdriver.
