Ryanair flight FR1121, bound for Tenerife, turned back over France and returned to Birmingham today after the pilots declared an emergency at 35,000ft
A Ryanair flight to Tenerife was forced to return to the UK after declaring a mid-air emergency.
The Boeing 737 MAX took off from Birmingham Airport at around 2.50pm today but issued a 7700 squawk over Brittany, France, after climbing to 35,000ft. The code indicates a general emergency. Ryanair confirmed that flight FR1121 had encountered “air turbulence”.
Passengers told The Aviation Herald the turbulence occurred while cabin service was in progress, causing injuries to a number of people. The flight turned around and descended to FL100 (flying at 10,000ft).
The plane landed safely back at Birmingham about one hour and 32 minutes after departure. AirLive reports it was parked on a remote stand of the airport for paramedics to assist passengers.
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The extent of the passengers’ injuries remains unclear.
Ryanair told the Mirror on Sunday night: “FR1121 from Birmingham to Tenerife on 28th December returned to Birmingham Airport shortly after take-off due to air turbulence. The aircraft landed normally before passengers disembarked and returned to the terminal, where a small number of passengers were provided with medical assistance. This flight continued to Tenerife at 21:06 local.”
It comes after a United Airlines flight was forced to divert to Edinburgh on December 4 following an onboard emergency. The plane, bound for San Francisco, took off from London at 2.05pm but issued a 7700 squawk and landed in Edinburgh at around 4.40pm. It had been heading north across the North Atlantic before turning back.
United Airlines told the Mirror the diversion was due to a burning smell”. The airline added: “We provided customers with hotel accommodations and rebooked them on other flights to their destinations.” There were 162 passengers on board.
