Airplane grounded after mid-air emergency

An airplane at the centre of a mid-air emergency has been grounded at Belfast while an investigation is carried out, it emerged tonight.

A crewman broke his leg and passengers were thrown around in their seats over the Irish Sea on the Birmingham to Belfast Flybe flight.

The plane, carrying 36 passengers and five crew, landed safely at Belfast City Airport but an inquiry was immediately ordered into the incident.

Tonight the airline’s operations director denied there had been any previous problems with the airplane.

This came after a member of staff at Flybe claimed it had been dogged by technical problems.

She said problems with cabin pressure had led to the crew being changed before a flight took off several months ago.

It was also alleged fumes had leaked into the cabin and the crew were taken off the plane before take-off on a previous flight due to illness.

Operations director Captain Mike Wood said a full check of the technical and safety records of the aircraft will be carried out by the company and the regulatory authorities to ensure the aircraft is fully air-worthy before its next flight.

He added: “A provisional check of those records revealed no causes for concern.”

Captain Wood insisted an “open and honest safety culture” operated within the company and any reports of defects were rectified before the plane’s next flight.

“Providing a safe environment for our passengers and crew is the top priority for the company,” he added.

Engineers from the British Department of Transport and the airline were continuing to examine the aircraft tonight.

A spokeswoman for the Accident Investigation Branch of the Civil Aviation Authority said the probe was at an early stage and no public statements as to the cause of the incident would be made until the investigation was completed.

Three injured crew were taken to hospital, a man with a broken leg, while two women were treated for a sprained ankle and a head injury.

A passenger who suffered a minor head injury did not need hospital treatment.

A spokeswoman for the airline said the plane had experienced an “incident, the cause of which has not yet been verified”.

“The aircraft experienced a severe and unexpected movement during normal flight,” she added.

A full emergency was declared at Belfast City Airport when the pilot radioed ahead to tell air traffic control he had a problem 10 minutes before the aircraft landed at 1.40pm yesterday.

Businessman Alan Lowry, who was on-board, said passengers were terrified as the plane entered a sudden nosedive.

“The plane was in its cruise and the plane seemed to go up and down about 100 feet just with the turbulence,” he said.

“Then all of a sudden there was a big shudder, it was as if the plane hit a wall and whenever it shuddered, the three cabin crew were all thrown to the floor and a lot of the passengers were thrown back and forward in their seats.

“The plane then went into a nosedive for maybe just a few seconds and then obviously the pilot was able to take control of the plane again and put it down eventually,” he added.