Aircraft makes emergency landing
Ryan Taylor
Labour MEP Catherine Stihler caught sight of something nobody wants to see while travelling by plane – a motionless propeller.
Ms Stihler was one of 32 passengers onboard a Loganair flight which was forced to turn back to Orkney shortly after take-off from Kirkwall Airport.
The MEP had already had a busy day in Shetland, meeting SIC members and discussing broadband connectivity.
But she still managed to take a photograph of the still propeller after her return journey to Inverness suffered difficulties following the scheduled Orkney stop.
It was almost twenty to five yesterday afternoon when the captain shut down one of the plane’s two engines as a precautionary measure following a warning signal on the flight deck.
Loganair said the aircraft returned to Kirkwall and landed without incident just after 5pm.
Another aircraft was flown up to pick up the passengers.
It came in a week when Loganair held up its hands to problems over reliability and punctuality.
Stephen Bell
I am a visitor on my way to Shetland, currently at Edinburgh Airport waiting for the Loganair flight to leave. Twice the departure time has been put back, not surprising after reading your recent article. I daren’t show my wife the picture of the aircrafts stationary prop, as she is a nervous flyer. Earlier we flew from London City Airport by Flybe with no problems, so we wonder why Loganair can’t do the same.
We are both looking forward to our stay, my wife visiting for Shetland Wool Week and myself indulging in my photography hobby.
Bill Adams
Stephen, I think you will find that the London City – Aberdeen route, although a Flybe service, is in fact flown by Loganair with one of their Saab 2000 planes on behalf of Flybe.
Robin Stevenson
Future reference for Labour MEP Catherine Stihler
A twin engine plane can fly perfectly well on one engine. In fact it can even take-off and land with just one engine. Losing an engine in flight is not a particularly serious problem, the pilots are trained to fly the aircraft should an engine fail. If an engine did fail in flight, the pilots would carry out a number of checklists to ensure the engine is secure and safe.
A four engined aircraft losing an engine is even less of an issue – infact it can lose more than one.
Regards
Bert Morrison
Mr Stevenson states the obvious, but I don’t see in this article where Catherine Stihler said anything to the contrary? The quote ‘caught sight of something nobody wants to see while travelling by plane – a motionless propeller.’ is probably a fair statement for the vast majority of humans who have an instinct of self preservation. I don’t suppose Mr Stevenson would have been quite so fast to the keyboard if it had been an SNP MEP who had been involved, but that’s just conjecture.
Yes we know flying is statistically one of the safest modes of transport but Loganair are certainly testing the patience of their customers. Luckily for them there is no competition apart from the ferry.
Robin Stevenson
I posted exactly the same response to Catherine Stihlers tweet in the Herald yesterday Bert, while [to you] I “state the obvious” there are many others that are not fully aware of the fact that aircraft can fly quite easily on one engine, so while you may feel I was “having a dig” at Ms Stihler”, I was in fact trying allay fears to those terrified of flying, and that a plane won’t suddenly tumble from the skies with a loss in power.
I also went on to say that until such times as Flybe/Loganair no longer have the monopoly in Shetland, then their service will continue to be sloppy and overpriced.
You add: “I don’t suppose Mr Stevenson would have been quite so fast to the keyboard if it had been an SNP MEP who had been involved, but that’s just conjecture”…Meaning, ‘jumping to a conclusion based on incomplete information, but for which no proof has been found’, and of which, you are quite wrong.
Ian Campbell
I would imagine it would take someone with a very strong will , or perhaps faith, not to have some level of concern when one out of only two engines fails!
Robin Stevenson
What I’m surprised at Ian, is why the Captain didn’t announce his intention? Or did he, and we just didn’t get that part of the story?
Stephen Bell
Further to my earlier post, we eventually arrived at Sumburgh 2.5 hours late, just before 22:00pm. I hope no one else on flight BE6997 was hoping to have caught a bus, as the last one was 2 hours earlier.
One we had boarded the plane, we were informed that the plane we should have been flying on, a Saab, was on the airport apron and couldn’t fly because of technical difficulties. This must be a catch all description for many things, a bit like the Police’s ‘incident’. We only flew that evening as a Loganair Dornier aircraft that arrived from Norwich an hour earlier was available.
I’m quite aware that a two engined aircraft can fly on one, and does in an emergency. The concern is if the other engine were to develop problems. A very small chance, but still a concern.
Now we are here we are enjoying our stay.
Johan Adamson
I was in a plane which did this 14 years ago, probably the same SAAB, leaving Orkney. Production of the SAAB 340 ended in 1988. The only flight I was on this year was delayed both ways, the Edinburgh to Orkney cancelled all together. I noticed a battered seat and table had obviously been replaced with another old one.
I have seen Loganairs accounts, healthy profits of late on the back of fuel price decreases I suspect (even though these are apparently forward contracts), none of which passed to us or spent on new planes for the routes.