Wiring blamed for jet fire alert

POOR wiring techniques have been blamed for a fire in the first-class section of a Virgin Atlantic jet forced to make an emergency landing in Shannon.

The fault which caused the fire led to an inspection of Virgin’s Airbus 340-300 aircraft and jumbo fleet and a similar problem was detected on a second Airbus.

A number of other A340-300 and A340-600 aircraft were also found to have cable routing problems, according to a preliminary report of the incident by the Department of Transport Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU).