A Daily Record journalist has spoken of her fears after an engine cut out on a flight she was travelling on in the midst of Storm Doris.
Motoring Editor Maggie Barry was on a Flybe flight from Glasgow to Birmingham which was forced to make a U-turn and return to base when one of the Q400’s propeller engines shut down after take-off.
Maggie told how the passengers were stunned into silence during the ‘scary’ incident on flight BE783 when one engine suddenly appeared to conk out.
Hours later, another Flybe flight, also a Q400, travelling from Edinburgh to Amsterdam crash landed at Schipol Airport – this time the right hand side of its landing gear crumpled on impact with the runway.
(Photo: John A. MacInnes Press Scotland/PA Wire)
The two incidents within six hours of each other came as weather conditions from Storm Doris, particularly in Scotland, played havoc with transport systems shutting roads and affecting ferries and trains.
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Flight BE783 lands after engine suddenly went off after take-off
The first incident came just after 10.30am as flight BE783 climbed and reached cruising height.
The flight had been scheduled to take off at 9am but was delayed and then further delayed as ground crew sprayed it with a de-icer to counter the chilly conditions.
Then one woman insisting on getting off the flight, leading to another delay.
Maggie said: “We had been delayed and then had to be de-iced and one woman got off.
“I did wonder if this was an omen. But when we finally took off I think everyone was quite pleased.
“Once in the air, cabin crew commenced trolley service but then one of the engines suddenly went off.”
Anxiety was written across the faces of the passengers as the propeller on one side of the plane stopped and only a single engine droned on.
Maggie added: “We climbed and then straightened out and that’s when it happened.
“Everyone on the plane knew what it was because the engine sound we had been hearing just halved.
“My companion and I looked at each other and then the pilot was accelerating – I can only liken it to jump-starting a car – and the engine seemed to kick in again and we rose dramatically.
“It was scary.
“A few minutes later he came on from the flightdeck to confirm that we had lost a unit but we now had it back and the engine was working again, however, we would have to return to Glasgow.”
(Photo: Maggie Barry/Facebook)
Having to return to Glasgow made the seriousness of the situation sink in for the 50 or so passengers onboard.
However, everyone remained calm as the plane flew over snowy countryside following Storm Doris’ onslaught.
Passengers held their breath as they thought about what would happen in the event of the plane plummeting to the ground.
Maggie said: “Nobody onboard panicked but we were all very quiet.
“I did look down at the snowy countryside as we came into land and wonder how far it was to fall.
“We came into land on a distant runway with blue light fire engines strategically placed along it.
“We held our breath as we seemed to land at speed and the engines were thrust into reverse – but everything worked.
“Some more fire engines appeared as we got to our stand and the pilot came out to tell us it had indeed been ‘a serious situation’.
(Photo: Maggie Barry/Facebook)
As we walked to the terminal I heard one woman say to her friend, “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
A Flybe spokesperson said: “A Flybe spokesperson said:“Flybe can confirm that BE783 Glasgow to Birmingham returned to Glasgow airport following a technical fault that resulted in the captain electing to shut down the number one engine as a safety precaution.
“The pilot followed all required procedures and the aircraft landed safely without incident.
“The Bombardier Q400 aircraft is designed to continue flying safely with one of its engines shut down but, as is standard procedure, the aircraft was met by the airport’s emergency service vehicles.
“All 46 passengers disembarked as normal when the aircraft arrived on stand.
“The safety of its passengers and crew is the airline’s number one priority and the airline apologises for any inconvenience experienced.”
(Photo: John A. MacInnes, Press Scotland)
Only a matter of hours later, a second planeload of passengers went through an equally scary incident when their Flybe service to Amsterdam from Edinburgh collapsed to one side on the runway.
Half of the landing gear failed after eye witnesses said the plane had landed ‘heavily’.
Aviation expert David Learmount said that it was unlikely the two incidents were connected even though they involved the same type of aircraft.
Referring to the Schiphol incident he said: “In bad weather the risks of landing are higher than in good weather.
“If there was a fair amount of wind and it was fairly bumpy with a crosswind component it becomes very difficult to land an aircraft in an elegant manner and if the runway is contaminated by snow and ice it becomes very risky.
”But an incident like this is very rare and passengers usually emerge unhurt.”
He said he had no idea why the engine would have shut down on the Birmingham flight. He said it could be for any manner of reasons or the pilot may have decided to shut it down for safety.
He went on: “But we will soon know after the Air Accidents Investigation Branch looks at the data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.”