Spilt liquid in cockpit blamed for jet U-turn
A CUP of liquid accidentally spilt over electronic equipment in the cockpit forced a holiday jet into an emergency U-turn.
Five people were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation following Wednesday night’s incident which forced Condor flight DE2116 to make an emergency landing at Shannon.
It had been travelling from German city Frankfurt to Cancun in Mexico with 337 passengers and crew on board.
A spokeswoman for the airline said the diversion had been a “precautionary measure”.
She added: “The aircraft was fully inspected and repaired by our team of engineers. The safety of our customers and crew is always our first priority.
“Customers departed from Shannon on the same plane to Manchester, where cabin crew were changed due to legal operating hours and the aircraft was catered before flying to Cancun. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused our customers.”
The aircraft had been about 1,500km west of Ireland when the crew issued a mayday call and turned around.
The crew reported they had detected smoke in the cockpit and requested clearance to divert to Shannon.
On the ground, airport authorities Jet at Shannon
implemented their emergency plan which also involved alerting the fire service, National Ambulance Service and An Garda Siochana.
Five fire service units were dispatched, while the National Ambulance Service sent a number of
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resources including ambulances and an advanced paramedic response vehicle.
Airport crash crews were standing by as the Airbus A330-200 landed safely at 7.13pm.
Emergency vehicles pursued the jet along the runway and remained with it as it taxied to the apron.
It stopped short of the terminal where fire crews used thermal imaging cameras to search the fuselage for hotspots.
Once an exterior inspection was completed, fire personnel carried out a further investigation inside the plane. It’s understood no evidence of heat or smoke was found.
The jet was towed to the terminal where the passengers were disembarked and taken to local hotels for the night.
The safety of our customers and crew is always our first priority CONDOR SPOKESWOMAN