Virgin A340 diverts to Wilmington, NC

[flyboy 28]

The crew of a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600, registration G-VGAS performing flight VS006 from Miami,FL (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 331 passengers and 18 crew, declared emergency while overhead the Atlantic and reported, that the floor had become very hot near a galley. The airplane diverted to Wilmington,NC (USA), where the airplane landed safely about 2 hours after departure from Miami.

Fire fighter prepared for a possible fire in the cargo hold, which was also said to contain corrosive materials. A visual inspection after landing however revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

Closer inside examination revealed, that a toilet pump had overheated producing the heat felt on the floor. No fire or flames had occured however.

The airplane is currently undergoing repairs. The passengers have been brought to hotels in the Wilmington area.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VIR6 ... /KMIA/EGLL (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VIR6/history/20081114/0110Z/KMIA/EGLL)

Must have been a surprise for the folks at the airport, too.

[Ari707]

why not just to PHL? or IAD?

[Matt Molnar]

why not just to PHL? or IAD?
If you look at the FlightAware track, Wilmington was definitely a lot closer than the other two...next closest was probably Bermuda. It sounds like they thought they might have had a serious problem and wanted to land urgently.

[Ari707]

my mistake I though it was Wilmington Del.

[Tom_Turner]

Ever since that Swissair flight, it *seems* (from reading random reports in the General Media anyway), that there isn't too much time wasted before diverting to the nearest airport.

Tom

[dimamo1983]

Ever since that Swissair flight, it *seems* (from reading random reports in the General Media anyway), that there isn't too much time wasted before diverting to the nearest airport.

Tom

And that's how it should be... instead of flying across the world with a toilet on fire or something crazy like one engine inop ;)