BA blues

22/9/2012, OR Tambo airport Johannesburg

Something about the aircraft run by BA....when we flew from London to Paris a couple of years back we noticed how run down, frayed, unclosing and generally clapped-out the plane was. Waiting to board our flight to Livingstone, we wondered whether this would be similar.

Well, maybe they send old planes to Africa to eke out a few more years. For here we sit, stranded on the tarmac at Jo'burg, waiting for engineers to fix a start valve. Essential to starting engines. You'd think that testing one of those might be a standard first step when checking flight readiness- maybe even before loading passengers. Apparently not.

It's only 30C onboard (sometimesI wonder if it's really a good idea to have a thermometer on your watch)....,,,and I fondly recall the Slow Lounge that we left in the terminal, with it's aircon, oversized armchairs, fridges full of cool refreshments. (Readers should expect to hear more of this oasis when we transit through Jo'burg again - which we will several times - and travellers could do a lot worse than join Qantas Club just for this. It even has rooms where you can shut the door and curtains, lie down and take a kip. Nice. Makes other lounges look ascetic.)

Still, we'll put up with a lot to get to see Victoria Falls. Just a shame that seeing them is taking longer than planned.

Update: after 45 minutes it turns out the engineers were wrong about the start valve. They're going to try something else. Inspires confidence.

Conclusion: two hours later the diagnosis is complete. Nothing mechanical, the starter switch itself in the cockpit was broken. Hmm electronics. Always love it when they have issues - so little on a plane depends on them.