BMI diversion causes a stir in Irish media
From todays Irish Independent:
PASSENGERS on board a BMI plane told yesterday how they feared for their lives when their flight from London to Dublin unexpectedly diverted to Shannon without explanation.
One man's wife told how after he phoned her on his mobile she feared she would never see him again.
Frightened passengers were not told that a system for guiding planes in poor conditions known as an Instrument Landing System (ILS) was out of action at Dublin airport due to upgrade work. The system has not been working for the past two weeks and is expected to be out of action for a further two weeks.
However, the Irish Aviation Authority said yesterday an alternative system was available to pilots although this was not used by the pilot of the flight.
The British airline BMI has now launched an investigation into the incident.
The airline apologised to passengers after hearing how many of them feared for their lives when the aircraft halted its descent into Dublin and became airborne again without those on board being told what was happening.
In total, passengers spent almost five hours on flight BD131 from Heathrow to Dublin - which had been due to arrive at 7.05pm, but due to the diversion to Shannon did not finally touch down in Dublin until 10.38pm.
Shaken passengers on the Wednesday night flight recounted how they were only offered an explanation as to what had happened after the aircraft had landed at Shannon and been sitting on the runway for about 30 minutes.
A spokeswoman for BMI said there had been heavy rain and poor visibility at Dublin on Wednesday evening and the pilot had been unable to rely on an instrument landing system at the airport which is usually relied on in cloudy or poor weather conditions.
The spokeswoman said the ILS was not working on the runway and when the pilot realised he could not use this approach he opted, in the interests of safety, to divert to Shannon. It appears the BMI pilot had descended to a height of 600ft but still found that there was thick cloud below him, making visibility poor.
Blackrock businessman Donal Prior (43), who was on board the BMI flight, spoke of his concern about the lack of information. His wife Deirdre said although he had sounded calm when he phoned her from Shannon he later told her how at one stage he feared he would not see her and their four children again.
He told RTE's 'Liveline' show that when passengers asked cabin crew what was happening and why they were going to Shannon they were told the crew were as much in the dark as the passengers.
Mrs Prior said because of the climate post 9/11 she had been very concerned for her husband's safety. "I quite honestly thought this is the last time I'm going to talk to this guy.".