Ryanair plane was 20 feet above houses, residents claim

RESIDENTS have said a Ryanair plane flew dangerously low over their homes on its way to land at Cork Airport yesterday.

One man living in the Halldene estate in Bishopstown said the aircraft, believed to have been inbound from London Stansted, passed no more than 20 feet over his neighbour’s roof.

“I was at my kitchen window when I saw it turning outside, and it was dangerously low. I really thought we were in trouble.”

Denis O’Keeffe, living less than half a mile away in Cedar Grove, said he and family members were in the back garden when the plane flew over at 5.50pm.

“It was like a thunderous noise but very sudden, it was about the height of two houses off the ground. It was turning at a 90-degree angle heading for the airport,” he said.

Several complaints were received by the duty office at Cork Airport last night but a Ryanair spokesperson said the company had no concern about the flight.

Bishopstown is in the flight path for many services landing at Cork but residents insisted this plane was much lower than aircraft usually fly over their homes.

Meanwhile, up to 90 holidaymakers were stranded at Cork Airport for more than 20 hours over the weekend after their flight had to turn around.

Passengers were due to fly to Las Palmas Airport in the Canary Islands on Saturday. Their plane took off at 10am but was forced to return to Cork because of technical problems.

Holidaymakers, including families with young children, spent close to a day at the airport before their plane finally took off at lunchtime yesterday.

A spokesman for the airport confirmed the flight had been delayed due to problems with the aircraft and said every effort was made to accommodate the passengers.

Falcon Holidays customer Sinead Long from Cork said her trip had been ruined by the delays which left her stressed out and weary.

A spokesman for Falcon Holidays yesterday said customer safety was paramount and that they were left with little choice but to return the plane to Cork.

“It was a Spanish aircraft so we had to fly in a Spanish engineer to look at it. He couldn’t establish what was wrong with the aircraft so we had to fly in an alternative aircraft. Passengers were told to leave at 6pm and they came back at 6am. We gave them an evening meal and we would have given them accommodation but there wasn’t much left in Cork. Obviously we apologise to passengers but the safety of our customers is paramount.”

Meanwhile, Cork Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn has urged passengers upset by the handling of the matter to seek compensation.

He said tour operators needed to ensure their service was first class to avoid inconveniencing thousands of holidaymakers every year.

“This is dreadful. These people are off to a very bad start for their holidays. For anybody to suffer a night like this in this day and age it must be awfully upsetting. Tour operators would do well to ensure this type of thing doesn’t happen.”