THIS STORY IS NOT TRUE.
As an employee of the largest commercial airplane
manufacturer in the world and as one who specializes in
support of mobile/laptop computer users for the company,
when this story surfaced 6+ months ago we did a thorough
investigation. We have hundreds of people "on the road"
everyday, most use laptops and they sometimes fly on the
"other" manufacture's aircraft. My company has investigated
this story completely and it is NOT TRUE. The following is
directly quoted from correspondence with Sabena. Please
check their Web page as mentioned in the text below for
their direct statement on this issue. NONE of the
commercial aircraft manufacturers use "magnetic trays" to
prevent rattles while stowed.
The reply from Sabena.....
>
> Thank you for your mail to Sabena.
> Indeed we receive a lot of message concerning this
> "bad joke".
> A short reply available in the "FAQ" section of our
> Youth Corner.
> [Editor note:
> http://www.sabena.com/cgi-bin/makehtml/youthfaq]
> The reply from the head of product fleet :
>
> We can give you 100 % guarantee that the initial
> message on Web site was a "bad" joke !
>
> We have currently 4 A340's into operation (and
> definitely the "original
> message came from a so called Sabena Passenger on
> Board one of our New-
> York/Brussels flight on nov 06/97 so on an A 340 -
> call sign oo-Scw)
> and those ships do not have any magnetic device
> installed at all on meal
> tables or wherever !
>
> So it is strictly impossible that such problems as
> described occured !
>
> We experienced in the past (2 years ago) same attempt
> to get some
> compensation(s) from us for same reasons !
>
> Unfortunately nowadays Internet spread 'critical info'
> all the world around
> and let me tell you it is very difficult to my people
> to answer each time
> personally.
>
> Kind regards to you and please do not hesitate if you
> need more info or contact.
>
> Philippe Falize
>
> Head of Product Fleet
> & Inflight Communication
> -
> B.regards,
> M.Gravet
> Sabena internet officer
>
Patrick
WA7VNI
patd@wolfenet.com
On Saturday, January 24, 1998 01:17 PM, ROBERT WANDERER
[SMTP:aa0cy@robertwanderer.gardnerville.nv.us] wrote:
> Interesting post on local DX Packet Cluster. Whether this
> will
> spread is unknown, but DX-peditioners take note.
>
> Two passengers on a Sabena Airbus 340 wound up with
> corrupted
> hard drives from tray tables which used magnetic latches
> for
> quieter storage. They had their laptops on the tray when
> they
> suddenly started behaving erratically and then quit.
>
> A word to the wise.
>
>
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