Some Screamed As Fuel Gushed From Wing Tank

Perception is reality. That old saw was no more apparent than in the UAE Monday when more than 300 passengers refused to board a the continuation of a Bangkok-London flight after ground crews overfilled one of the wing tanks at the gate. Now, Phuket Airlines is threatening to sue the passengers for lost revenue.

The aircraft was being refueled at Sharjah Airport when passengers told BBC "gallons" of fuel "spewed" from the wing of the Boeing 747-300. That's when passengers decided they'd wait for the next flight.

"The fuel was just leaking off the end of the wing," 28-year old Marcus Walsh, returning with his new bride from a Thai honeymoon told the London Daily Mail, "and one of the passengers stood up when we were at the end of the runway shouting 'Stop the plane, stop the plane'."

In fact, the aircraft aborted its take-off three times because passengers made such a fuss.

"When we got back on the plane everyone was just eyeing the window, everyone was just watching the window, watching for drips," Harriett Packham told the London paper, referring to the third take-off attempt. There were a few drips at the beginning, then we turned around the corner to go on the runway and there was just loads, gallons of fuel came out, it was just terrible. We really didn't think that they were going to stop. All the air stewards were just saying 'Oh, calm down, this is normal'."

But the passengers didn't calm down. One jumped into the aisle and yelled, "Fire!" sparking a panic in the main cabin and forcing the aircraft to halt its take-off roll for a third time.

Gordon McFarland, Phuket's sales and marketing manager in the United Kingdom, described the frightened passengers as "crazy.

"Are passengers really qualified to know what's going on? There was no danger to passengers," he told the BBC.

FMI: www.phuketairlines.com