A Vietnam Airlines passenger plane was delayed for more than two hours over the weekend when a passenger accidentally opened one of the emergency exits, local media reported on Monday.
Rare visitor to Stewart Airport, Vietnam Airlines 777-200ER (VN-A149). (Photo by Gordon Gebert)
The incident happened at Tan Son Nhat International Airport near the city of Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday evening when Vietnam Airlines flight 1162 was preparing to take off for a domestic flight to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
The Tuoi Tre and Thanh Nien newspapers reported that 22-year-old Nguyen Duc Duy was seated next to an emergency exit on the Airbus A321 aircraft when he used a handle on the door, causing it to open and inflate the evacuation slide.
As a result of the incident, Vietnam Airlines was forced to delay the flight for two hours as it prepared a new aircraft. “Duy told airline authorities he had boarded a plane for the first time and did not know anything about emergency exits,” Thanh Nien said in its report.
The passenger, who claimed he was only trying to open the window, faces a fine of up to 20 million Vietnamese dong ($951).
In late July, another passenger of Vietnam Airlines also opened the emergency exit, resulting in a fine of 15 million Vietnamese dong ($720). He told investigators that he opened the emergency exit because he was ‘curious.’
