Vacationing Mechanic Prevents 8 Hour Delay

When a Thomas Cook Airline 757-200 experienced a mechanical difficulty before departing Menorca, Spain, passengers were told to expect an 8 hour delay while a mechanic was flown in from the Manchester, England. But instead, a qualified mechanic who happened to be one of the passengers identified himself to the crew, and asked if they wanted him to look at the problem.

After thoroughly checking his credentials, he was a mechanic for Thomson Airways, which has a reciprocal maintenance agreement with Thomas Cook, was allowed to make the repairs and the plane got on it's way, landing in Glasgow only 35 minutes late.

The BBC reports that the mechanic, who was not identified, received a round of applause from the passengers when he came back on board. Fellow passenger Kieth Lomax told the news service "A stewardess told us there was an engineer on board and they were checking out to see if he could work on it. He was obviously successful. It was reassuring to know the person who had fixed it was still on the airplane. What are the odds of something like that happening?"

Thomson Airways managing director Chris Browne, said she was "delighted" that one of the company's engineers was able to help, "even when the flight was that of a competitor".

She added: "This kind of initiative exemplifies Thomson's company philosophy of exceeding customer's expectations and it makes all of the team at Thomson Airways extremely proud."

A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook said strict procedures were followed to be sure the man was qualified to work on the aircraft. "We checked his licence and verified he was who he said he was, and he was able to fix the problem to avoid the delay. We are very grateful that he was on the flight that day."

FMI: www.thomascookairlines.co.uk