A Chabad woman who claimed to have saved a Transaero flight from a midair disaster made headlines this week, as her story of "saving the plane" became entrenched in Israeli media.
However, a Transaero representative who spoke to Arutz Sheva later Thursday night clarified that the story - while incredible - is a gross exaggeration.
"Flight safety is key priority of the airline's operations," Transearo spokeswomen Ekaterina Makarova stated. "A number of Israel's media have published an information assuming that a passenger of Transaero's UN312 flight carried out on April 12, 2015 contributed to detecting a defect in the aircraft condition."
"As the initial information was published in the Israel's media outlets with no comments requested either from the airline nor from independent aviation experts who could have helped to understand the actual state of the matter, the information was misinterpreted," she said. "The airline finds it necessary to clarify the real circumstances."
"When carrying out the mandatory pre-flight system check at the engine starting point, the flight crew reported the indication of asymmetric work of slats," she described.
Slats, along with flaps, are aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of the aircraft which help determine a plane's lift (and, indirectly, speed). A flap check is mandatory before takeoff while flying a Boeing 767, as this copy of a pre-flight checklist demonstrates.
"The flight crew called for specialists of the handling company of Ben Gurion airport. The diagnostics, carried out by the specialists, showed that the aircraft having this defect should not be operated on this flight."
Makarova stated that while the passenger did, in fact, note the noise and drew attention to a problem during the checks, she stressed that the problem was already being diagnosed during the exchange. Moreover, the passenger claimed to have prevented the plane from taking off - but pre-flight checks are done before the plane is cleared for takeoff by air traffic control.
"At the time when the flight crew and the specialists of the airport were carrying out checks, one of the passengers reported to the cabin crew that she heard ambient noise," she clarified. "Although the passenger, indeed, drew higher attention to a strange for her noise, the decision to suspend the aircraft from operations was not made upon the information received from her, but as the result of the technical check of the aircraft."
"The aviation has strict regulations and rules of control over all systems of aircraft as part of pre-flight checks and preparatory operations," she continued. "They were fully observed by the crew as well as by the specialists of the handling company."
"Over 24 years of Transaero’s history, flight safety has always been and, at present, remains one of the top priorities of Transaero Airlines," she added. "Transaero has always been following the strict rules of preflight aircraft checks. Due to the airline's highest consideration to safety issues, Transaero Airlines is included in the top 20 safest airlines in the world and the top 6 safest airlines in Europe in the international ranking of JACDEC research agency."