KUALA LUMPUR, March 24: A passenger on board a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH066 from Kuala Lumpur to Incheon, South Korea, got excited and inflated a life jacket inside the aircraft after learning about a problem with a generator. This forced the flight to land at the Hong Kong International Airport early today after more passengers followed suit and also inflated their life jackets. A MAS official said it was important for the aircraft to have usable life jackets and once they were inflated, they could not be used again until they were refilled.
He said the gas used to refill the life jackets were classified as dangerous goods and it must be packed carefully before flying again. The official pointed out that no aircraft was allowed to fly without usable life jackets. He said the Airbus A330-300 would remain grounded until the life jackets were refilled. MAS, in a statement today, stated that a generator which supplied normal electrical power to the A330-300 aircraft suffered some failure. “Electrical power was then supplied by the auxiliary power unit. The aircraft was diverted to Hong Kong to rectify the problem.
“All the 271 passengers on MH066 have been transferred to other carriers. “The return flight MH067 from Incheon has been cancelled and passengers have been transferred to other carriers as well as subsequent Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur,” the airline added. MH066 left Kuala Lumpur at 11.37pm and was scheduled to land in Incheon at 6.50am local time.
