A transatlantic cargo flight diverted to Shannon Airport early this morning after circling off the Irish coast for over four hours.
United Parcel Service flight UPS-232 was travelling from Cologne, Germany to Philadelphia in the U.S. with a scheduled stop at East Midlands airport in England. Less than an hour after departing East Midlands the crew opted to divert to Shannon Airport.
The Boeing 767-340(ER) jet was west of Mayo at around 4.45am when the crew informed air traffic controllers that they had an issue with their aircraft. The pilot requested clearance to divert to Shannon but informed controllers that they needed to enter a holding pattern for several hours first.
The flight routed south to a location 200 kilometres west of Shannon Airport where the crew descended to from 30,000ft to 24,000ft andentered a holding pattern. The aircraft remained in the pattern for over four hours before the crew commenced their approach to Shannon. It’s understood the pilots opted to hold for that long to allow them burn off aviation so they could touch down within safe landing weight limits.
The crew did not declare an emergency and the did not request any emergency services or other assistance on landing. The flight landed safely at 9.30am and taxied to the terminal building.
Details of the technical issue are not known the decision to divert and land was precautionary.
The flight is expected to resume its journey on Friday morning.
