Alarming smoke signals

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 36

Alarming smoke signals

NZPA Constanta The idiosyncracies of Russian aircraft manufacture caused more than just a little alarm amongst the All Blacks yesterday as they prepared to leave Bucharest airport on their Tarom Rumanian Airlines flight to Constanta — the scene of their, first tour match tomorrow. Two experienced world travellers, Andy Haden and

Murray Mexted. were convinced' that they, were about to witness their first aircraft fire when smoke and gas began to filter into the cabin of the tourists’ Antonov 24 as it ran its engines up just before taxi-ing. Haden and Mexted. who were sitting at the front of the aircraft and were the most affected, were quickly out of their seats, but frantic buzzes on the hostess call buttons drew no response.

Eventually, a Rumanian rugby official accompanying the tourists hurried to see a hostess and returned with the news that the smoke was “normal" and would disappear in about five minutes. He was proved right and the rest of the trip on the ageing Antonov — a propdriven aircraft roughly equivalent to a Friendship — was uneventful.