A cargo flight was forced to return to Shannon Airport tonight after the crew reported a ‘mechanical issue’ shortly after departure.
UPS flight 249, with a crew of two on board, took off from Shannon at around 8.00pm bound for Dublin. The flight was then due to continue to Cologne in Germany before returning to Shannon via Dublin tomorrow morning.
About 10 minutes after departure, the crew contacted air traffic controllers at Shannon to advise them they had a mechanical issue.
It’s understood the crew reported a ‘gear problem’ and requested permission to enter a holding pattern while they contacted their company’s operations centre and work to resolve the problem. It’s believed the crew received an indication in the cockpit after retracting the landing gear following take-off.
The Boeing 767-304(ER) jet entered a holding pattern over Co Laois before the crew issued a Pan-pan radio message, declared an emergency and confirmed they wished to return to Shannon. A Pan-pan is not as serious as a May-day call but still indicates an urgency on board.
The flight departed its holding pattern after about 20 minutes to commence an approach to Shannon. The crew indicated they would attempt to ‘put the gear down’ and if that didn’t work, they would enter another holding pattern while they continued to troubleshoot the issue.
A short time later, the crew confirmed that the landing gear had deployed successfully and that they wished to commence their approach to Shannon.
Shannon Airport’s fire and rescue service was alerted and crews mobilised to standby positions adjacent to the runway ahead of the jet’s arrival.
The flight landed safely at 9.00pm and was pursued along the runway by fire crews who then remained with the jet until it reached its parking position.
