WILLEMSTAD — The two malefactors, which had led to the stranding of respectively one MD-11 on Bonaire and a Boeing 747 on St. Maarten of the Dutch airline company KLM during the weekend, regarded a defect tube and pump. The passengers had been informed on the intention of the late departures from Hato.
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The tube in the armamentarium, which keeps the captain informed of the functioning of the flaps on the wings of the MD-11, had failed while the aircraft was at Flamingo International Airport last Saturday.
"That is a definite no-go", the local general manager Simone Wickenhagen of KLM and Martinair explains. "That small part must be flown in first, before the aircraft could take off again. Once the tube had arrived, it appeared that the batteries were flat – and we choose to replace these instead of, for example, charging them. This explains why the aircraft was forced to stay on the ground for another 24 hours. However, towards eight-thirty this morning, the aircraft took off towards the Netherlands."
Wickenhagen states that these defects ‘could occur’ – even with an aircraft such as the MD at issue, which ‘had just undergone a C-check’. The C-check is the most extensive and profound control and overhaul in the civil aviation.
Pump
According to Wickenhagen, a hydraulic pump at the controls of the Boeing on St. Maarten had failed. The replacing part was to be flown in with the regular, direct flight Amsterdam-Willemstad. For that purpose, the flight had made an intermediate landing on St. Maarten. Both flights were to arrive on Curaçao this afternoon, with intervals of several hours.
"Passengers, who should have flown from St. Maarten to the Netherlands yesterday, had received compensations and provisions in conformity with the EU-regulations regarding relevant delays. Therefore, these two aircrafts will fly more than 500 passengers to the Netherlands this afternoon. In this, we are working together with the airport authorities to make sure that everything will run smoothly", Wickenhagen concludes.
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