Engine trouble grounds flight By SHARON LYM and JUHEL BROWNE Guardian 11.02.02 Some 300 BWIA passengers were stranded yesterday because of the failure of one of its planes. The BWIA L1011 aircraft, BW 900, was leaving Barbados for London on Thursday night when it had to be re-routed to Trinidad after it experienced engine trouble minutes after take-off from Barbados. BW 900 safely landed at Piarco, but its passengers were stranded overnight and were not expected to leave Trinidad for London until 10 o'clock last night. BWIA chief executive officer Conrad Aleong said the passengers were never in danger. He said they should arrive in London at midday GMT and would have been delayed by 28 hours. Aleong said what at first appeared to be a minor problem with a blade in an engine of the L1011 turned out to be more complicated. "We are taking the engine off and placing another engine on," he said. But one stranded passenger feared the engine may have been sabotaged as part of the industrial problems at the airline. However, BWIA communications manager Clint William denied the allegations. UK citizen Julia Nott-Macaire complained the airline did not do a good job in accommodating the stranded passengers. "The captain said that one engine was down and we had to go to Trinidad where an airbus was waiting for us to go on to London. However, when we got here we were told there was no airbus and that we would be accommodated at different hotels," Nott-Macaire said. UK passengers contacted the British High Commission in Port-of-Spain. They said they were told by embassy officials last evening that BWIA might not be able to accommodate all of the stranded passengers on its 10 pm flight. Nott-Macaire said about 30 passengers stayed at Crowne Plaza, while the others were being accommodated at Hilton Trinidad. Aleong said he would visit the stranded passengers at their hotels. One woman said there was trouble with the flight from the start, as the airline sent a smaller aircraft to Barbados and about 35 people were left behind. She said: "A lot of husbands stayed behind because they wanted their wives and children to go ahead." Some passengers complained that after they were allowed an initial two-minute telephone call on Thursday, the airline refused to cover any more phone calls. "How are we supposed to get word to our families?" one woman asked. Others complained the airline was refusing to compensate them or help them get connecting flights they missed because of the delay. Some passengers were not taking any chances. They took a flight to Antigua, hoping to catch a Virgin Airline flight to the UK. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************