Engineer sacked after rebooting Singapore Airlines plane, causing 17-minute delay
An aircraft maintenance engineer was fired by Heston MRO after rebooting a Singapore Airlines plane to clear diagnostic errors, causing a 17-minute delay. The engineer argued his actions were standard practice to ensure safety, but the airline and his employer deemed the procedure unnecessary and unauthorized.
Why it matters
This case highlights the tension between individual technical judgment and rigid corporate safety protocols in the aviation industry.
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Share A A A An aircraft maintenance worker who powered down a plane to clear errors before take-off has failed to win back his job after causing a 17-minute delay, with the country’s fair work umpire saying this was partly because he had been working extra shifts with a competitor.
The Brisbane man, who was a full-time licensed aircraft maintenance manager from May 2023 to December 2025, was employed by Heston MRO, a line maintenance services provider to international airlines including Singapore Airlines.
Singapore Airlines claimed the initial investigation into the engineer’s behaviour had been biased. Getty In November last year, Singapore Airlines sent Heston MRO a notice withdrawing the man’s maintenance authority – an official permit – based on “mishandling incidents”.
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