Ryanair should 'review procedures'
16/08/2010
Budget airline Ryanair should review its current passenger boarding and disembarkation procedures air accident investigators have ruled after a three-year-old child fell on to the tarmac.
The youngster, called Olga, had to be airlifted to hospital and was detained for treatment for 24 hours. She only sustained minor injuries.
She fell through a gap between the handrail and the level platform at the top of the Boeing 737's boarding steps as she was getting on the plane.
She had climbed the stairs unassisted as her mother, journalist Sasha Slater, was carrying her 18-month-old son, Joe, with one hand and luggage with the other. The family were due to travel on a Ryanair flight leaving Stansted airport.
When Olga reached the top of the stairs, "she turned towards her mother, leaned backwards and fell through the gap between the extendable handrail and the top of the airstairs," an Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said.
The AAIB recommended that Ryanair review its current passenger boarding and disembarkation procedures "so that assistance is made available to passengers accompanied by children and those with special needs".
The report into the incident, on July 17 2009, said: "The gap between the extendable handrail and the upper platform of the Boeing 737 airstairs represents a hazard to small children boarding or disembarking the aircraft."
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