Ryanair pilot mistakes runway
March 30, 2006Yesterday Ryanair passengers on flight FR9884 from Liverpool to Northern Ireland's City of Derry Airport witnessed a key moment in the budget airline's history.
For the first time in 20 years of flying one of the airline's pilots touched down his Airbus A320 at the wrong airport.
To make matters worse the airport in question was actually a military base in Ballykelly and an investigation has been launched to ascertain how the navigational error came about
Flying for Eirjet on behalf of Ryanair, the pilot is reported to have informed passengers: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed at the wrong airport. I would ask you to be patient with us."
Although some of the 39 passengers on board thought it was all just a prank, they certainly realised the truth when a bus arrived to transport them the distance to the correct airport.
A spokesman for Ryanair said that a mistake of this nature had "never occurred before".
"The pilot was cleared by air traffic control in City of Derry for a visual approach and mistook the nearby Ballykelly for City of Derry."
Ryanair also confirmed that it would it would be carrying out an internal investigation into the matter in the interests of passenger safety.
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User comments
The mind boggles. How can a fully trained, professional pilot make such a mistake? Did he not think it at all peculiar that there were no other commercial airliners in sight? Also, wouldn't there have been all sorts of camouflaged Hercules planes and various other military aircraft parked near the runway? It's heartening to see air traffic control have their wits about them, too; couldn't someone have cleared their throat and said "Er, excuse me, you're going the wrong way"? Talk about a breakdown in communication! Bizarre.
Posted by: Jessica Clark | 30 Mar 2006 16:17:57
Ha ha, well done. Did he forget his glasses and his trousers as well?
Posted by: stu | 30 Mar 2006 22:35:46