This article is from page 18 of the 2006-11-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
THE Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport has confirmed that it is investigating an incident last Wednesday in which an Aer Arann flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon after a fire broke out in one of the plane’s two engines.
The ATR turboprop aircraft was travelling from Farranfore Airport in Kerry to Dublin with 37 passengers and crew when a warning light indicated a fire in the port side engine, forcing the captain to declare an emergency and seek permission to land at Shannon.
The plane touched down safely but was quickly escorted by a fleet of emergency vehicles off the main runway to a taxiway and evacuated. Passengers were taken by bus to the terminal building as fire crews and engineers inspected the aircraft.
Units of the fire brigade from Shannon Town were also mobilised as back up to the airport fire and rescue service, while two crews from Ennis stood by at Dromoland. Two ambulances from Ennis and Limerick were also deployed. Airport operations were not affected during the emergency.
An Aer Arann spokesman was unable to confirm whether there was a fire in the engine, as the airline was awaiting a report from their engineers who had carried out a detailed examination of the aircraft.
It is understood however that an internal automatic fire extinguisher was deployed and the fire was fully out by the time the plane landed.
Aer Arann said all passengers were transferred to Dublin by coach and the aircraft remained grounded as engineers continued their examination of the aircraft.
A spokesperson for the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport confirmed they were notified of the incident on Wednesday evening and initiated their own investigation.
This is the fifth official investigation by the AAIU of incidents involving Aer Arann aircraft in recent years.