Fuel Mayday: Diverted Ryanair Flight Lands With Six Minutes Of Fuel Left

A Ryanair flight landed at Manchester Airport with just six minutes of fuel in the tank after diverting from Scotland during Storm Amy last week. The Boeing 737-800 had attempted multiple landings at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport , and then at Edinburgh Airport, amid wind speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, before diverting to Manchester.

The narrowbody, which can carry up to 189 passengers plus crew, landed with only 220kg of fuel left, having burned through almost all of its reserve fuel. The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has now launched an investigation into the incident.

Ryanair Flight Minutes From Fuel Exhaustion

Credit: Shutterstock

As reported by The Guardian, Ryanair Flight FR3418 (operated by Malta Air) from Pisa to Glasgow on Friday, October 3, had just minutes of fuel to spare when it landed in Manchester following multiple failed attempts in Scotland. Departing Pisa more than an hour later than scheduled, amber wind warnings were issued as the flight neared Prestwick Airport.

Looking at FlightRadar24 data, the flight circled Prestwick before making two failed landing attempts and subsequently diverting to Edinburgh Airport. Following another unsuccessful landing attempt at Edinburgh, the decision was then made to divert to Manchester, which had milder weather conditions.

Credit: FlightRadar24

With fuel reserves running critically low, the pilots issued an emergency call on approach to Manchester before landing safely at 20:51 local time. According to The Aviation Herald, the aircraft had just 220kg of fuel remaining, with 100kg in the left tank and 120kg in the right. This amounted to five or six minutes of flying, barely enough time to attempt a go-around if the landing attempt once again failed. A Ryanair spokesperson said,

“Ryanair reported this to the relevant authorities. As this is now subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”

Passengers Recall Scary Experience

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It was quite the ordeal for passengers onboard, with the flight making three aborted landing attempts as strong winds battered the UK. The flight was scheduled to land in Glasgow at 19:00, but spent almost two additional hours in the sky before landing in Manchester.

Passengers recounted their distressing experiences, but did not realize how close they were to exhausting fuel until after landing. One passenger told the Ayr Advertiser that those onboard were “buffeted around a lot and jumping” during the heavy winds, adding that they “realised how bad things had been” after seeing images of the fuel remaining circulating online.

After diverting from Prestwick, conditions in Edinburgh were just as bad, and the plane had to pull up sharply during its landing attempt. Having landed in Manchester almost two hours late, passengers were then bused to Prestwick Airport, arriving at the airport ten hours later than scheduled. Several other flights — including another Ryanair flight from Malaga — also tried and failed to land at Prestwick that evening, diverting to other airports, including Manchester and London Stansted.

Authorities Now Investigating

Credit: Manchester Airport

The UK’s AAIB has confirmed it has opened an investigation into the “serious incident”. The plane landed well below its final reserve fuel, with one pilot telling The Guardian that this incident was “as close to a fatal accident as possible.”

Under regulations, aircraft must have enough fuel left over at landing to fly for 30 minutes at 1,500 feet. Aircraft that are still airborne and fall below this fuel level are required to declare a fuel emergency, as pilots are never supposed to reach the point of using the final reserve fuel.

The aircraft involved in this incident is a Malta Air Boeing 737-800 registered as 9H-QBD. The aircraft is ten years old and is configured with 189 economy class seats.