Friends tell of panic on board BA flight that had to make emergency landing because of cannabis smell sparking crash fears
Parents feared the worst when they saw it rapidly descending
TWO friends on board a flight that had to turn back after the smell of cannabis was detected claim their parents thought the plane was going to crash when they saw it suddenly drop thousands of feet while tracking it online.
Pals Hannah Currie and Tashia Munton, 18, were on the 8.15am BA flight to Heraklion in Crete on Thursday when it was forced to return to Gatwick because the overpowering stench of the drug was present on board.
Yesterday The Sun exclusively revealed that the jet had to turn back over Paris after 90 minutes when passengers were told crew had fallen ill.
Nursery nurse Hannah, who was headed off on her first “girls holiday” to Malia away from her parents, said the rapid descent was “terrifying” – even more so for her mum and dad who were tracking it online from home and thought the plane was suddenly “falling out of the air”.
The 20-year-old told The Sun: “When we boarded there was a funny smell but they said it would go as soon as they turned the air con on.
“Me and my friend fell asleep and about an hour into the flight I was woken up by the girl next to me who was saying ‘we are going back to Gatwick because of the smell, it’s hazardous to the plane and we have to get back as soon as possible’.
“Just after that the plane started to land quite quickly. My parents were terrified when they saw that thinking we were falling out of the air.
“Passengers were panicking, my heart was racing. They kept saying they couldn’t give us more details but it was because of the smell.
“My mum was in tears texting me but obviously I couldn’t see them because my phone was off.
“We got frantic calls from our parents when we landed saying we’ve seen you’ve gone back to Gatwick, what’s going on?”
Hannah, from Kettering in Northamptonshire, said that when the plane finally landed there were fire engines and ambulances following the jet down the runway.
Passengers were then taken off the flight and had to wait for another one for hours after BA ripped up rotas as the crew had flown beyond their legal hours.
Hannah added: “They got us all off and were trying to sort another flight because the cabin crew wouldn’t go on the next one.
“It was supposed to go at midday but the pilots were an hour and a half late so they didn’t even turn up until 1.30pm.”
Meanwhile hundreds in Crete waiting to return to the UK were delayed by up to six hours, sparking compensation claims.
Hannah also claims that when they finally did get back on a plane they were quickly bundled off again when it turned out the food loaded on by the bungling airline for the flight was out of date.
The rescheduled flight eventually took off around 2.45pm.
She said: “The staff offered us vouchers to use in the terminal but they didn’t have enough for all of the passengers.
“After that we’d had enough and told our parents there was no way we were getting on the next flight.
“We’re still back in the UK, some other people got off as well. Eventually they gave us back our suitcases but at first the cabin crew didn’t want to give them to us. We spent about an hour and a half waiting around just trying to get our suitcases back.
“It was awful, I didn’t want to go back on a second flight.”
The bodged flight meant that Hannah and pal Tashia never made it on their two week holiday to Crete – and Hannah has vowed she will never travel on BA again.
She added: “Hopefully we will get away again but we’ve got to try and get our money back for this one first. We can only get half back for the hotel and we’re trying to find out about the flights now.”
The source of the cannabis-like smell which caused all the chaos still remains unclear but other passengers are adamant that it was the class B drug they detected.
Dad Stuart Barnes, 40, said: “The smell was unmistakable.”
Stuart, wife Susan, 43, and daughters Rosie, ten, and Olivia, nine were among up to 174 passengers on BA2552 who paid up to £700 for a return trip.
Finance worker Stuart, from Cardiff, added: “You could tell straightaway what it was.
“Everyone at the back of the plane was saying it smelled of cannabis.
“We’ve been to Amsterdam and we know what it smells like.
“All they said was the cabin crew was ill from a pungent smell at the back of the aircraft.
“We were four rows from the back and the whole back of the plane stank.
“We were quite concerned about what it was and the crew seemed quite alarmed as well which put panic among the passengers.
“My daughter is afraid of flying anyway and the crew didn’t do much to make us feel better.”
British Airways said the plane landed safely and emphasised that the tracking app isn't entirely accurate, claiming the land might have looked more dramatic than it was.
A spokeswoman said that while there may have been a quicker descent it did not drop suddenly from the sky.
She added: "We're sorry for the delay to our customers' travel plans.
"We will never compromise the safety of our customers and crew.
"The aircraft landed safely, and we provided a replacement aircraft as soon as possible so that our customers could continue on their journey.";
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