An investigation has been launched after a Ryanair flight came within six minutes of ‘running out of fuel’ mid-air.
The flight was heading to Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport from Pisa in Italy on October 3 when it issued a ‘fuel Mayday’ and made an emergency landing in Manchester.
It came as Storm Amy brought winds of up to 100mph, sparking transport chaos across the country.
The cockpit crew issued a 7700 squawk code, a general emergency alert.
The flight, operated by Malta Air on behalf of Ryanair, made several unsuccessful attempts to land at Prestwick before attempting a landing at Edinburgh Airport. This was also unsuccessful.
The plane then diverted to Manchester, where it landed safely, almost two hours after the first go-around at Prestwick.
The flight reportedly landed with just 220kg of fuel left in the tank, which is only enough for around five or six minutes of flying time.
The final reserve fuel is the absolute minimum amount of fuel an aircraft can have before it is deemed unsafe to remain in the air.
One passenger, Alexander Marchi, who arrived at his destination 10 hours later than planned, spoke to the Ayr Advertiser about his flight experience.
He said: ‘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.’
For the type of aircraft used for the Ryanair flight, a Boeing 737-800, the amount of fuel require cannot dip below 30 minutes of flying time.
However, for turboprop planes, which travel at higher altitudes, this amount rises to 45 minutes of fuel.
A Ryanair spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘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.’
