'50/50': Pilot reportedly asked passengers if they wanted to fly with only one engine

Passengers on board a flight from Spain were left terrified after the pilot reportedly issued a vote to take off with a “50/50” chance of both engines working.

The Daily Mail reports holidaymakers were stunned, and one was “so traumatised he threw up”, after the pilot of their flight departing Malaga airport asked for a vote over whether they would like to remain on the plane or get off.

The un-named pilot reportedly told them there was a high chance that only one engine would be working and asked for a show of hands.

The man who vomited said the pilot told passengers “he’d never heard or done anything like this in 37 years of flying”.

'He gave us the option, asked us what he should do. He asked for a show of hands,” the passenger told the Daily Mail.

'There were some who just wanted to try it, they wanted to get home. But most didn't.

'There were girls hyperventilating, lots of people were panicking.

'The worst thing was we had to wait another hour or two before they would actually let us off the plane.”

But EasyJet has insisted the pilot was asking passengers if they wanted to get off the plane while the engines were being fixed.

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The flight had been delayed 40 hours and the pilot’s question caused passengers to panic.

A spokesman for the airline said the pilot had attempted to use one engine to start the other as is “normal procedure”.

“Because he was aware that the passengers had already been considerably delayed due to a technical problem the pilot asked the passengers if they would like to get off or remain on board whilst the engine start up sequence continued,” he said.

“At no point did the pilot ask passengers, or would ever attempt, to fly the aircraft without both engines working correctly.”

A replacement aircraft was ordered for the flight to Bristol.