Welcome to the Gorilla Highlands archives. For fresh stories don't miss the Gorilla Highlands Experts Blog.

Flying to the Gorilla Highlands of Uganda and Rwanda? You might not want to go with Brussels Airlines on a Wednesday…

A concerned passenger has contacted us with an extraordinary story.

On 9 March 2016 he was meant to fly from Belgium to East Africa and everything went well until, just before the takeoff, the pilot reported that he had seen a flame coming out of the engine. They were taxied back to the airport while technicians reportedly checked the plane and after 30 minutes concluded it couldn’t fly. Brussels Airlines moved the flight to the next day and offered passengers a free full-board overnight, or a refund of their transport home.

So far so good and logical, right? Nobody would want to be on a plane that isn’t 100% safe.

But it gets kinda weird at this point.

Our source heard from other passengers that this was not the first time for something like that to happen. A frequent traveller intimated that it was the third case of a flight on a Wednesday with few passengers to be cancelled (on 9 March there were 80 people on the plane).

Whether it is because of fewer clients or unreliable airplanes, we suggest you choose another day to fly with Brussels Airlines.

RESPONSE FROM BRUSSELS AIRLINES, 14 March 2016:

We at Brussels Airlines believe that the so-called ‘facts’ stated in the article posted on the 12th of March 2016 with the title ‘Brussels Airlines has odd, regular problems’ are mistconstrued and incorrect. We also regret that no reply or statement from our side was requested, which is most common in proper article writing. We’d like to provide an overview of the actual facts regarding our Wednesday flights in general, and more specific about our flight SN471 on Wednesday 9th of March: In general: Safety is always our highest priority. All our aircraft are maintained strictly following the international rules in place and in close coordination with the aircraft manufacturer Airbus. For your information, this was the first Wednesday flight which was cancelled in a full years time, so this is not something we do frequently. Specifically for flight SN471 on Wednesday 9th of March: Due to a technical problem which arised in Brussels, this flight had to be cancelled. It is not something we take lightly or do frequently, we do it because we strictly adhere to all safety and security procedures applicable. For your information, on this specific flight over 150 passengers were affected, not 80 as you refer to in your e-mail. We’d like to remind that we have an excellent safety-record. We kindly request you to adapt the article, providing our views. Looking forward to your reply and happy to help you in case of anything. Best regards,

Sebastiaan Spijkers, Country Manager Uganda and South Sudan

Read more about: Gorilla Highlands | Getting Here | Visas