A charter jet was forced to return to Shannon Airport this afternoon after declaring a medical emergency over the North Atlantic.
The Bombardier Challenger 604 jet had arrived in Shannon earlier on a refuelling stop en route from Nuremberg, Germany to Philadelphia in the United States. There were six persons on board.
The flight, using the callsign ‘Red Angel 4862’, departed Shannon at around 12.35pm but about 35 minutes later, the flight crew informed air traffic controllers that they wished to turn around and return to the airport.
The flight was cleared to return to Shannon and the crew requested priority clearance back to the airport. The crew confirmed they were efforts underway to resuscitate a ‘critically ill’ patient on board.
The National Ambulance Service was notified and requested to dispatch resources to the airport ahead of the jet’s arrival.
The flight crew also confirmed to controllers that they would be making an overweight landing. In accordance with procedures for overweight landings at Shannon, airport fire and rescue crews were placed on standby for the aircraft.
The flight landed safely at 1.55pm and was accompanied to its parking position by airport fire crews. Ambulance paramedics were also standing by for the flight. The patient was rushed to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.
