Injured Stewardess Sues British Airways for Flying Near Storm 'Danger Zone'

She fractured a knee and dislocated a shoulder in the incident, and told the court that an unsecured drinks canister fell on top of her. Lanigan is claiming £72,500 in damages because the pilot should have spotted signs of a nearby “large, dark storm cloud” and followed airline protocol to stay more than 20 miles clear. But lawyers for the airline told the court that there was no visual evidence of a storm cloud and nothing on the weather radar to suggest that a cumulonimbus was nearby. • Goodbye to the full English! Why BA is axing hot breakfasts Instead, a flight deck operating officer reported only “fluffy white clouds” in the sky, the company’s barrister, Peter Savory, told a hearing at Central London county court. Judge David Saunders heard that Lanigan’s flight was coming to the end of a nine-hour journey from Heathrow to Mumbai at the time of the incident. Her lawyers said that there had been “mild to moderate” turbulence towards the end of the flight and that the passenger seat belt signs were illuminated. It was shortly before the plane was set to land that it suffered a more extreme jolt. From the witness box, Lanigan said that though the flight had been too “bumpy” to serve hot drinks to passengers with the breakfast service, the turbulence that caused her injury was “unexpected”. “I remember trying to move,” she told the court. “It felt like for ever.” Lanigan acknowledged that despite the passenger seat belt signs being on, as a crew member she used her judgment and continued to work on her feet. She told the court that there were different thresholds for when passengers and crew members were required to be strapped in. After the incident, Lanigan was eventually taken off the aircraft in a wheelchair. Her barrister, Sinclair Cramsie, blamed the flight deck crew for her injuries, arguing that the aircraft was within 20 miles of the cloud and that the pilot should have either diverted away from it or told the cabin crew to strap in. But Savory told the court that the flight deck crew “didn’t see anything indicative of a cumulonimbus” and that the incident resulted from a “single bump of turbulence”. The airline’s barrister added that the cabin crew had been briefed about possible weather conditions before take-off and that a cyclone that had been of concern was avoided. The trial continues.