OA flight grounded safely
An Olympic Airlines (OA) flight safely made an emergency landing on the island of Corfu, western Greece, yesterday after the pilot noticed a chip in a cockpit window. The pilot decided to ground the Athens-bound flight, carrying 97 passengers, shortly after takeoff at around 7.25 a.m. while flying at a height of 3,000 feet. All passengers and crew were safe and were expected to be taken to Athens later in the day on another flight. OA said that the problem with the aircraft, leased from Spanish company Hola Airlines, was not unusual but added that the chip could have become a dangerous crack due to changing air pressure. It was the third time in the last 10 days that a Boeing aircraft used by OA presented a potentially dangerous problem. Last week, officials at state-carrier OA blamed state oversights for the leasing from the Spanish company of four passenger aircraft that exhibited serious operating defects. They underlined however that there was no problem with any of the planes currently operating.
