A British passenger noticed that a New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight was missing bolts on a plane wing resulting in the cancellation of the flight moments before it was due to take off.

Phil Hardy, 41, had boarded Flight VS127 at Manchester Airport in the UK on Jan. 15 and happened to glance at the wing, noticing four missing bolts. Ironically, that happened during a safety briefing for passengers. He immediately alerted the cabin crew.

“I’m a good flyer, but my partner was not loving the information I was telling her and starting to panic, and I was trying to put her mind at rest as much as I could,” Hardy recounted to the Kennedy News agency during an interview. “I thought it was best to mention it to a flight attendant to be on the safe side.”

“Engineers were promptly called out to carry out maintenance checks on the Airbus A330 aircraft before its scheduled takeoff to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, a Virgin Atlantic rep said,” the New York Post reported.

(Video Credit: New York Post)

Hardy took a video showing one of the engineers who accessed the plane wing using a screwdriver to tighten bolts.

“Hardy said airline staff repeatedly reassured him there was no safety issue with the wing, but his fear was heightened given the recent ordeal in which an Alaska Airlines plane lost its door plug and a chunk of its fuselage flew off mid-flight,” the New York Post added. “Both Virgin and Airbus stressed there was no impact to the safety of last week’s aircraft despite the missing fixings.”

“The Virgin representative said the flight ended up being axed to ‘provide time for precautionary additional engineering maintenance checks, which allowed our team the maximum time to complete their inspections,” the media outlet wrote.

The airline immediately released a statement attempting to reassure passengers.

“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and this was not compromised at any point,” a rep defensively declared in the statement. “We always work well above industry safety standards and the aircraft is now back in service.”

A New York-bound Virgin Atlantic flight was canceled just moments before takeoff last week when an alarmed passenger said he spotted several screws missing from the plane’s wing. pic.twitter.com/YCt9smp48R

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 22, 2024

Excuses began to spew forth from the airline that probably did not do much to calm fears after the missing and loose bolts were discovered.

“Neil Firth, the Airbus local chief wing engineer for A330, added that the affected panel was a secondary structure used to improve the aerodynamics of the plane,” the New York Post wrote.

“Each of these panels has 119 fasteners, so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate,” he contended. “As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced.”

The airline rebooked passengers on other flights headed for New York City.

If you think this is frightening wait until you hear about how the FAA hires based on diversity instead of ability

— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) January 22, 2024

“We’d like to apologize to our customers for the delay to their journeys,” the Virgin representative stated attempting to further placate passengers.

Libs of TikTok pointed out on X that Virgin Airlines ran an actual ad that promotes DEI and transgenders.

“This is an actual ad from @VirginAtlantic. They went all in on DEI. They changed uniform policy so men can cross dress and nonbinary crew can wear pronoun pins. They boast drag queen flight attendants. Last week a @VirginAtlantic flight was canceled after a passenger noticed missing bolts on the wing. DEI in the airline industry will get people k*lled,” Libs of TikTok wrote.

This is an actual ad from @VirginAtlantic. They went all in on DEI. They changed uniform policy so men can cross dress and nonbinary crew can wear pronoun pins. They boast drag queen flight attendants.

Last week a @VirginAtlantic flight was canceled after a passenger noticed… pic.twitter.com/MvYWNMSjWJ

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 23, 2024

I have no desire to fly with someone who is there to “change the world”. That’s not their job. The purpose of an airline is to get people from point A to point B safely, efficiently and comfortably. This commercial screams “your safety is not our concern”.

— Paul in Texas (@PaulMac_in_TX) January 23, 2024

If this video is not a parody, then flying customers would do well to avoid flying with Virgin Atlantic.

— Mendy Howe (@MendyHowe12) January 23, 2024

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” – George Orwell, 1984

— Kenny Howard (@God_winsforever) January 23, 2024

Absolutely ridiculous. No one cares what your pronouns are or how you identify. People just want a safe flight that’s on time.

— The Josh and Artemis Show (@the_jandashow) January 23, 2024

And there’s more…

(Video Credit: Virgin Atlantic)

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