NYC-bound flight cancelled after British passenger spots an issue with plane wing

A Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester to New York was cancelled after a passenger noticed several bolts were missing from the wing. The transatlantic flight, VS127, was called off just moments before liftoff on 15 January even though the airline said there was no risk to passengers. Phil Hardy, 41, a British passenger on the plane, alerted a flight attendant to the parts he noticed were missing. “I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I could,” he said. “I thought it was best to mention it to a flight attendant to be on the safe side.” Engineers were called in to address the issues, with photos showing one of them on the plane’s wing using a screwdriver. Flight staff reportedly reassured Hardy that this was not a safety issue, which Virgin Atlantic later reiterated in a statement. Still, the flight was cancelled to “provide time for precautionary additional engineering maintenance checks, which allowed our team the maximum time to complete their inspections,” Virgin Atlantic said.<br/>