British Airways played emergency crash message to passengers - by mistake

Passengers flying over the North Sea feared for their lives after being told to prepare for a crash landing.

British Airways today apologised for causing "undue distress" but played down claims that a crew member aboard the 747 had pressed the wrong button, instead blaming a software glitch for the scare.

The 275 passengers said they were initially told it happened because some controls were "too close together".

Travellers were settling in to watch in-flight films or sleep on the flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong this week when they heard: "This is an emergency announcement."

The automated female voice continued: "We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water."

There were gasps and screams in the cabin as passengers feared they were going to die and began to get into the brace position shown on emergency cards in their seat pockets.

When they realised the mistake, cabin crew on the 747 ran down the aisles to calm passengers and reassure them that it was a rogue announcement.

One passenger, Michelle Lord, 32, said: "People were terrified, we all thought we were going to die. They said the pilot hit the wrong button because they were so close together."

Another traveller said: "I can't think of anything worse than being told your plane's about to crash." A British Airways spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to passengers on board the flight for causing them undue distress.

"Our cabin crew immediately made an announcement following the message advising customers that it was played in error and that the flight would continue as normal."

He added: "There's nothing indicating that it was from the pilot, it's more likely to be a computer malfunction."

A pilot told the Standard that the emergency announcement buttons are not controlled from the cockpit but are part of the PA system used by the crew.

He said: "The two switches in the cockpit that pilots are worried about mixing up are one that tops up the oxygen, which sits next to another that causes all the emergency masks to drop down."

Last year, passengers on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Paris panicked after an emergency announcement was mistakenly played — first in English, warning of turbulence, and then in French telling passengers to prepare for an emergency landing.