Passengers on Singapore-Mumbai flight complain their aircraft was leaking

A safety lapse was observed on Singapore Airlines flight SQ424 on December 11 as the aircraft bound for Mumbai took off with what appeared to be a crack in the structure Flight passengers had also pointed out the issue to the crew as it was about to take off from Singapore however the flight anyway departed after being cleared by an airline staff memberAviation experts believe that this could have turned out to be a major catastrophic incident if the fuselage had burst openPassengers point out leakagePassengers on board pointed out to the crew about water seeping in the aircraft from a point Speaking to midday Siddhesh Vartak a passenger said ldquoOn the evening of the flight heavy rain in Singapore caused water to drip continuously inside the aircraft Several seats were wet and tissues were used as a temporary solution This made many passengers including myself extremely uncomfortable and raised serious concerns about safety To our surprise the cabin crew instructed passengers to sit on the drenched seats cover themselves with blankets and proceed to watch the safety video This approach was highly inappropriate and dismissive of passenger wellbeingrdquoHe added ldquoMy primary concern is that proceeding with the flight under such conditions posed a significant safety risk Increased air pressure or other inflight complications could have resulted in an emergency situation A more prudent and safetyconscious decision would have been to delay the flight or rebook passengers on a subsequent onerdquoSharing a video of the incident Vartak added ldquoSafety must always take precedence over scheduling Although we landed safely in Mumbai the experience has left me deeply concerned about the airlinersquos commitment to passenger safety When some passengers voiced their discomfort they were met with an unprofessional response from the crewrdquoVartak further disclosed ldquoAn airline official was called in to check the leakage issue I am not sure if he was an engineer or a technician but he cleared the aircraft for the flightrdquoFollowing the incident Vartak had also lodged an official complaint with the Singapore Airlines as well as the civil aviation ministryAirline admits leakage in flightAfter the issue was raised by the passengers Singapore Airlines admitted that there was a leakage in their flight SQ424 on December 11 which was due to the seepage of rainwaterIn its official statement sent to midday replying to a WhatsApp query sent by midday the airline said ldquoOn 11 December 2024 following a heavy downpour in Singapore water seeped into an Airbus A380 operating Singapore Airlines SIA flight SQ424 from Singapore to Mumbai and on to 20 Economy Class seats in the aircraft The water seepage stopped shortly after takeoff To mitigate the situation the affected 20 seats were covered with plastic sheets prior to boarding and our cabin crew provided the necessary assistance to the affected customers during the flight including changing the seat cushion covers pillows and blankets SIA sincerely apologises to the 20 affected customers The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priorityrdquoExpertSpeakCaptain Mohan Ranganathan a seasoned aviator and aviation expert told midday ldquoAny flight that is potentially not safe for passengers is grounded and then work starts on the aircraft If the cabin had been depressurised an emergency landing would have been needed as the pressure in the cabin would have dropped drastically and in a matter of seconds This again depends on the size of the hole or the crack in the aircraft that was allowing water to seep inrdquoA senior investigator at the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau AAIB told midday ldquoThis indeed has multiple factors at play No doubt that the water was pouring into the aircraft but it needs to be investigated whether the crack or hole through which the water was seeping was directly on the fuselage of the aircraft or some other place from where the water seeped in and then made its way to the cabinIt is also a fact that if the crack or hole was directly on the fuselage there was a possibility that the cabin might have burst open due to the pressure difference between the low air pressure at high altitudes and high air pressure in the cabinrdquoHe added ldquoLuckily no such catastrophe happened on this flight and the aircraft reached Mumbai safely considering the flight path There is a section where the aircraft has to travel over the ocean which we call the oceanic transfer During this phase there is no land kilometres away from the aircraft If any fuselage burst would have happened during this phase the aircraft would have had to make an emergency landing in the ocean and wait for a rescue mission to reach themrdquoSingapore airline in a follow up statement after an investigation into the matter sent to midday via whatsapp shared the following Singapore Airlines can confirm that after receiving the report of water seepage in the aircraft cabin onsite engineers went to the aircraft to assess the situation Due to heavy downpour in Singapore at the time rain water entered the aircraft through Upper Deck Door which was opened to load the food carts prior to flight departure We can confirm that there was no safety concern with the aircraft and it was declared serviceable before it departed Singapore for Mumbai The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priorityDec 11Day of the incident