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A Ryanair flight has been forced to make an emergency landing (Image: PA)
A Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing as it came within six minutes of “running out of fuel”. An investigation has been launched following the incident on the flight operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair. The flight was travelling to Prestwick Airport in Glasgow from the Italian city of Pisa on October 3 when it issued a “fuel Mayday”.
It was forced to make an emergency landing in Manchester after the cockpit crew issued a 7700 squark code – the alert for a general emergency. Prior to this, it made several unsuccessful attempts to land at Prestwick and Edinburgh airports. Nearly two hours later, it made a safe landing at Manchester.
The plane diverted to Manchester Airport. (Image: Getty)
Upon landing, the plane had only 220 kg of fuel left in its tank—just enough for five or six minutes of flying.
Passenger Alexander Marchi said the chaos started before they even took off from Pisa, as protestors managed to storm the tarmac amid a strike.
He told Ayr Advertiser: “After leaving late from Pisa because of a general strike and protesters invading the tarmac at the airport we were worried that we wouldn’t get to Prestwick before the storm hit.
“Everything was fine until we started our descent. The plane was circling a few times before trying the first time but pulling up almost immediately.
“We were told we would try one more time or we’d have to go to Manchester. The second time it was a very bumpy ride and we almost reached the tarmac, but at the last minute we pulled up very sharply.
“We realised how bad things had been after seeing the images after finally landing at Manchester with almost no fuel. There was a lot of relief. People were wanting to get off and definitely were not up for flying any time soon.”
A Ryanair spokesman said: “Ryanair reported this to the relevant authorities on Friday (3 Oct). As this is now subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”
