Passengers evacuated from a China Airlines plane that caught fire at an Okinawa airport complained the flight crew provided poor evacuation instructions. Perhaps the flight crew should take a lesson in competency from the maintenance staffers who meticulously whited-out the company’s name and logo on the burnt aircraft’s remains.
That’s right. The day after the accident occurred, maintenance crew workers were caught on tape painting over the company name on the body of the plane, as well as the plum flower logo on its tail. Apparently, this is common practice in Japan. An official from the marketing branch of the airline’s Tokyo office said,
“Our officials in Taiwan said they recognized that there was a precedent for painting over logos.”
Precedent or not, it’s still pretty funny (only because there were no fatalities). The Japanese media’s speculating the airline was trying to reduce the brand damage that would result from constant footage. Although no one died in this accident, that wasn’t the case for nine other accidents the airline reported between 1970 and now.
So there you have it. A lesson in damage control from China Airlines: if your product catches on fire, just cover up your brand name.
(China Airlines Aircraft Image by Drewski2112)
