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A flight operated by Virgin Atlantic heading to Barbados had to make an emergency landing at Manchester Airport due to smoke in the cockpit.
The aircraft landed at 1:50pm on Sunday (January 7th) following the pilots’ report of a strong, sharp smoke odor, as stated on the aviation website AirLive.
VS77 flight departed from Manchester en route to Bridgetown approximately one hour ago, but was compelled to return after only 20 minutes of flying.
The plane landed safely and was greeted by firefighters upon arrival at the airport.
Virgin Atlantic stated that the cancelled flight was due to a technical problem.
A representative from the airline informed The Independent that the VS77 flight from Manchester to Barbados has been diverted back to Manchester due to a technical problem. Ensuring the safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is of utmost importance to us, and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
The flight was called off, and all impacted passengers have been rescheduled on different flights.
The Manchester Evening News was informed by a representative from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service that they were summoned to the location. They stated that at approximately 1:30pm on Sunday, they received a report of an aircraft making an unscheduled landing at Manchester Airport.
“Several fire trucks from Wythenshawe and Stockport, along with the Technical Response Unit from Ashton and the Command Support Unit from Hyde, promptly arrived at the location.”
Firefighters were on standby along with Manchester Airport fire personnel for the safe landing of the aircraft. They were present for about 90 minutes.
This is not the initial occurrence of a flight being affected by smoke.
In September of 2023, an emergency landing was necessary for an Air China aircraft due to an engine fire and smoke filling the cabin.
CA403 was en route from Chengdu, China to Singapore when the incident took place.
At approximately 4pm, Changi airport in Singapore received confirmation from the flight crew that there was smoke in the front cargo hold and bathroom. The aircraft was then given priority to land at the airport at approximately 4:15pm after declaring an emergency.
The airport stated that upon landing, the airplane’s emergency slides were used for a quick evacuation.
Source: independent.co.uk
