Thursday, April 16, 2015

Maybe that Lubovitch lady really didn't save an entire airplane?


Okay, this is too funny to keep to myself.

Here's the original headline, and lede, as published Tuesday on CrownHeightsInfo

Lubavitcher Woman Saves Entire Airplane
22-year-old Mussie Weinfeld most likely saved the lives of a plane full of people when she suspected a malfunction with the aircraft just moments before takeoff. Despite being mocked and ridiculed, her insistence led to the plane being grounded after a serious malfunction was discovered.

And here's today's rejoinder from the airline:

After the story of a Lubavitcher woman whose vigilance saved an entire airplane – which was first reported here on CrownHeights.info – went viral, representatives of the airline – the Russian carrier Transaero – contacted us with a request that they be given the chance to give their side of the story.
The following is the statement sent to us by Transaero Airlines – complete and unedited – outlining the course of events that unfolded that Motzei Shabbos at Ben Gurion Airport, in accordance with their internal investigation:
Transaero Airlines: flight safety is key priority of the airline’s operations
A number of Israel’s media have published an information assuming that a passenger of Transaero’s UN312 flight carried out on April 12, 2015 contributed to detecting a defect in the aircraft condition.
As the initial information was published in the Israel’s media outlets with no comments requested either from the airline nor from independent aviation experts who could have helped to understand the actual state of the matter, the information was misinterpreted.
The airline finds it necessary to clarify the real circumstances. When carrying out the mandatory pre-flight system check at the engine starting point, the flight crew reported the indication of asymmetric work of slats. The flight crew called for specialists of the handling company of Ben Gurion airport. The diagnostics, carried out by the specialists, showed that the aircraft having this defect should not be operated on this flight.
At the time when the flight crew and the specialists of the airport were carrying out checks, one of the passengers reported to the cabin crew that she heard ambient noise. Although the passenger, in dead, drew higher attention to a strange for her noise, the decision to suspend the aircraft from operations was not made upon the information received from her, but as the result of the technical check of the aircraft. The aviation has strict regulations and rules of control over all systems of aircraft as part of pre-flight checks and preparatory operations. They were fully observed by the crew as well as by the specialists of the handling company.
Over 24 years of Transaero’s history, flight safety has always been and, at present, remains one of the top priorities of Transaero Airlines. Transaero has always been following the strict rules of preflight aircraft checks. Due to the airline’s highest consideration to safety issues, Transaero Airlines is included in the top 20 safest airlines in the world and the top 6 safest airlines in Europe in the international ranking of JACDEC research agency.

I should say - and please listen - that I don't think anyone behaved badly here. (though both Transero and CrownHeightInfo need to hire writers who can compose standard English sentences. Here's a winner from the Jews: When she told them her concerns about the plane they too laughed at her. She insisted that she will not fly on the plane if they didn’t check it out.)

The website reported a story (and maybe the woman did save the plane? Who know?) and the airline acted to protect their reputation (and maybe the story did happen exactly as they said it did?)

That's all kosher. Funny, but kosher.

Search for more information about ### at4torah.com

No comments: