Every time I see this airline in Thailand, I say a little prayer, I was going to fly them from Udon Thani to Chiang Mai, but when I found out they were the only airline, and it was on a YS-11, I changed cities.
Posted on 04/10/2005 1:57:30 PM PDT by Central Scrutiniser
Third flight abandoned by airline
An airline which twice abandoned take-off attempts when passengers said they saw fuel gushing from a plane's wing has suffered another safety scare.
Britons flying with Phuket Air out of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday were left stranded by the halted take-offs.
On Wednesday, a separate Phuket Air Boeing 747 had to return to Gatwick three hours into a flight to Bangkok because of a hydraulics fault.
UK officials have grounded the plane until repairs have been completed.
Engine shut down
It has emerged that an engine had to be shut down while the plane was airborne.
The plane, which had taken off from the Sussex airport at 0830 BST and landed back at 1137 BST, has been grounded by the Department of Transport.
A spokeswoman said it would not be permitted to leave the UK until the damaged engine had been repaired or replaced.
An airline spokeswoman said on Wednesday: "There were 82 people on today's flight, which flew into Gatwick from Sharjah last night and had suffered a hydraulics problem.
"Though it was thought the fault had been corrected, the plane suffered the same problem this morning."
'Gushing' fuel
The passengers were transferred to London Heathrow to take alternative flights, said a British Airports Authority spokeswoman.
On Sunday, around 200 Britons travelling with Phuket Air stopped their plane when many said they saw fuel gushing out of the wing of their aircraft.
Pilots abandoned two take-off attempts as screaming passengers threatened to storm the cockpit.
The airline later said the aircraft had been overfilled with fuel by ground staff and had not been a danger to passengers.
But several passengers refused to board another of the company's planes and others were left stranded in the UAE following further problems and delays.
Every time I see this airline in Thailand, I say a little prayer, I was going to fly them from Udon Thani to Chiang Mai, but when I found out they were the only airline, and it was on a YS-11, I changed cities.
Could you put this on the aviation ping list?
Their name AND their motto?
Phuket is pronounced foo ket, a great place, I've spent lots of time there.
But the airline, whoa, avoid at all cost.
Sounds even worse than "Lucky Airlines?"
They said, "Ah, Phuket," and went home.
Ping
With a name like Phuket, it has to be good.
When everyone else is busy ... just go Phuket.
I was wondering how you pronounced that.........;^)
Those planes is all phuked up.
John Phuket Kerry?
This snafu lead to the following cockpit recording.
Phuket Tower: Flight 192, please be advised that fuel is gushing from your right wing.
Flight 192: Phuket, we're taking off anyway.
Phuket Tower: Phuket, you're dead meat.
That photo is very disturbing. Sheesh.
Well, the name of the island is pronouced "Poo Ket". In most translations, the PH is a "hard" P. In any case, Thai's don't say Fooket.
Back in the late 80's, my airline got 4 747-200's from KLM, they were trashed when we got them 15-19 years old, with over 17,000 cycles on them. One was the plane that lost 3 engines over the Redoubt volcano in Alaska and nearly crashed, and one was nicknamed Christine the Hangar Queen. Pieces fell off of them, they had aborted takeoffs, and I was on a flight where the main gear punctured the fueselage, which cancelled 4 days and 8 flights. All 4 planes were made into beercans a long time ago.
And we had a very good maintenance shop, I've seen the Phuket Air planes in person, they are shocking, I can only imagine their maintenance. There is another dodgy carrier over there that flies 747-200's, Orient Thai, I'd stay away from them too!
I say poo ghet, but most farangs say foo ket.
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