Probe into fuel emergency on Aer Lingus jet

An investigation has been launched in Spain into an incident involving an Aer Lingus flight which had to declare a fuel emergency after it was unable to land twice at one airport and refused permission at another.

Spanish authorities are probing the Mar 14 incident, which involved an Aer Lingus Airbus A320 jet which was carrying 56 passengers and six crew.

Spain’s Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil has confirmed the occurrence and that an investigation is now underway.

The flight from Cork was just a few minutes from landing at Barcelona when the crew had to abort their approach and enter a holding pattern because of poor visibility.

The runway visual range (RVR) for Category II landings at Barcelona had remained consistently below the required minimum of 400m and so the crew was unable to land.

RVR is the distance above which a pilot can see the surface markings on a runway.

While the plane was equipped to undertake a Category III approach, which permitted lower RVR, air traffic control denied the crew’s request to do so.

After remaining in the holding pattern for 30 minutes, the crew decided to divert to Valencia, almost 300km to the south west.

However, while en route to Valencia, controllers at Barcelona contacted the crew and advised them the visibility had improved again and the RVR was marginally above the minimum.

The crew opted to return to Barcelona and attempt one further approach, with the option of diverting to Girona, 90km to the north east, if they were unable to land on that attempt.

Girona was chosen to ensure they would arrive at their alternate airport with the minimum legal reserve of fuel.

While on approach to Barcelona, the crew was informed that visibility had again deteriorated below the minimum safe level. The crew aborted the approach and requested to divert to Girona.

Controllers then informed the crew that Girona was unable to accept any aircraft because of congestion caused by the large number of flights which had already diverted there from Barcelona.

The crew then declared a “Fuel PAN” — requesting permission to land as soon as possible. A PAN call is usually precautionary and used to indicate an urgency on board but no immediate danger to the flight.

The flight was cleared to land at Barcelona and the jet touched down safely with ‘above minimum fuel.’

An investigation is now underway and could take up to a year to complete.