oneworld

A LATAM Boeing 777-300 from Sao Paulo in Brazil to London Heathrow diverted and made an emergency overweight landing after it was forced to deploy its ram air turbine because of a serious electrical failure. The RAT is a small wind turbine used only when primary and auxiliary power sources are lost and can power vital systems such as flight controls and hydraulics. The plane with 341 passengers and 16 crew on board landed safely at Belo Horizonte in Brazil Dec 18 but all 12 main landing gear tires blew after the brakes overheated. As they approached the airport, the crew told air traffic controllers they were “practically without electrical systems” and were unable to jettison fuel. The electrical problems started with the failure of the right back-up generator that tripped circuit breakers and left electrical conduits unpowered. <br/>

A Japan Airlines flight attendant, who failed breathalyser tests last week, was found to have consumed alcohol while on duty, JAL said Tuesday. An internal investigation showed that on a flight from Tokyo to Honolulu Dec 17, the 46-year-old female attendant's breath smelt of alcohol and failed 2 breathalyser tests conducted after a colleague noticed, JAL said. Before boarding the flight, the attendant took a test and no alcohol had been detected. However, she failed other 2 tests on board, which revealed 0.15 milligram and 0.1 mg of alcohol, respectively, in violation of JAL's set limit of 0.10 mg. JAL president Yuji Akasaka and Eri Abe, head of the cabin attendants division, will take 20% and 10% salary reductions for 4 month, respectively, to shoulder the responsibility of the incident, the airline said. <br/>