A flight that had departed Shannon Airport, bound for the US, returned to the airfield this afternoon after experiencing a technical issue.
United flight UA-271 left Shannon at around 2.50pm destined for Newark, New Jersey. There were 182 passengers and crew on board.
A short time after take-off, the flight crew advised air traffic controllers that they had an issue on board they were working to resolve.
The flight had climbed to its cruising altitude when crew told controllers they had an issue which could prevent them continuing across the Atlantic. The crew confirmed they were in contact with their operations centre and working to resolve the problem.
About 30 minutes after departure, when the Boeing 757-200 jet was about 330 kilometres west of Shannon, the pilots opted to turn around and return to the airport.
While the pilot did not declare an emergency they confirmed they would be ‘landing heavy.’ As a result, airport fire and rescue crews were placed on standby. This is a standard precautionary measure at Shannon if an aircraft is expected to make an overweight landing.
The flight landed safely shortly after 5.00pm and was met on arrival by fire crews who also accompanied the jet to its parking position.
The flight has since been cancelled.
Passengers have been told: “Your flight is cancelled because we needed to take the plane out of service to address a technical issue. Your safety is our priority and we’re sorry for the inconvenience.”
It’s understood customers will spend the night in hotels while arrangements are made to get them to their final destination tomorrow.
