Clumsy BA captain accidentally activates emergency slides just before takeoff at Heathrow, costing airline £50,000
A RUDE British Airways captain who mistakenly activated the emergency slide was grounded seconds before take-off.
The experienced pilot's extraordinary blunder delayed the flight for hours and cost a lot of money the airline £50,000.
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His passengers were strapped into their seats waiting to depart when he deployed the inflatable escape route.
Emergency services rushed to Gate 24E Heathrow where flight BA886 departed Romania.
The captain was immediately fired, while the passengers waited for more than three hours before taking off on another plane with another pilot.
Photos of the incident given to The Sun show airport firefighters surrounding the airport Airbus A320.
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The pilot failed to disarm the aircraft door when he opened it to pass documents to ground crew.
If he had done that, the emergency slide would not have activated.
A source said: “The captain of all people would have known the safety rules around opening doors.
“This goes beyond a rookie mistake. It's completely mind-boggling to understand.”
The flight, which was supposed to depart at 9:55 a.m. on Saturday, did not depart until 1:15 p.m.
BA said: “We apologized to customers and arranged a replacement aircraft to ensure they could continue their journey.”