Originally Posted by
Localiser Green
There's much more to it than just landing at the 'nearest (adequate) airport'. The crew make a decision on the nearest suitable airport. A number of factors make an 'adequate' airport 'suitable', including (but not limited to):
Time to reach airport
Wind Direction / Weather
Approach Aids / Likely Type of Approach
Runway Direction / Runway Length
Crew Familiarity
Emergency Facilities
Ground Facilities
etc...
Remember Dublin or Belfast do not boast 10,000ft runways (to my knowledge) and the aircraft would likely be landing perhaps 30-40 tonnes overweight, with a lower flap setting and so at relatively high speed.
The crew have to assess the situation and the likely risk posed by continuing to an airport a little further away, and this may be done in conjunction with the company operations department (for whom it was no doubt preferable for the aircraft to return to an engineering base).
With a situation like this by the time the crew had briefed and prepared for the s/e landing they would be halfway back to Manchester anyway.
Plus, if you need to lose a certain amount of altitude from your current height anyway, you are going to be in the air for x more minutes anyway, so you may as well do that by flying to a preferred airport rather than spiralling down to the nearest if it is safe to.