A routine trip to the United States turned into quite a scary afternoon for travelers on a recent United Airlines flight. Flight UA-316 was flying from Dublin to Newark when things took an unexpected turn mid-air. The aircraft had to declare an emergency and quickly head back to Ireland. This happened because the crew and passengers started feeling very strange symptoms due to a strong smell of fuel inside the cabin. Here is everything we know about this unusual event so far.
A normal afternoon departure
The United Airlines flight left Dublin Airport at around 2:10 in the afternoon and everyone was probably just settling in for a long movie marathon. They were heading to Newark in New Jersey but the trip was cut very short before they even left Irish airspace. The Boeing 757-224 aircraft had just reached 31,000 feet and was about to cross the coast over County Mayo when the trouble began.
Declaring an emergency mid-air
It was only about twenty minutes into the flight at 2:30 when the crew realised they had a serious problem on their hands and had to act fast. They quickly contacted air traffic controllers to declare an emergency and they made a complete U-turn right back towards Dublin. You really do not want to hear that your plane is turning around when you are just getting comfortable.
A very strong fuel odour
The main reason for the sudden change of plans was a very overwhelming smell inside the plane that no one could ignore. The crew told the controllers on the ground that they were experiencing a very strong fuel odour right at that moment. It is definitely not the kind of perfume you want to smell when you are trapped in a metal tube miles up in the sky.
Strange symptoms in the cabin
The strong smell was actually causing some real physical reactions for the people trapped inside the airplane. The crew told the ground team that they had reports of strong headaches and a burning sensation in their nasal passages. Breathing in strong fumes is never fun and it must have been quite alarming for everyone trying to figure out what was going wrong.
No leaks were suspected
When you smell fuel on an airplane your first thought is probably that something is leaking and that sounds incredibly scary. However when the controllers asked if they believed they had a fuel leak, the flight crew present at that time, they checked and confirmed they did not suspect any sort of leak at that time. That was at least one piece of good news during a very stressful situation for the pilots.
Routing back to Dublin
The pilots turned the plane around and began to descend back towards the ground to get everyone to safety. They routed the aircraft straight back to Dublin Airport where all the emergency teams were already getting ready for them. The main priority was just getting the plane on the ground as quickly and safely as possible so people could get some fresh air.
Preparing an overweight landing
Because the plane had just taken off it was still completely full of fuel for the long trip across the ocean. The crew members accepted they would have to make an overweight landing which is exactly what it sounds like. It takes a lot of skill to land a heavy plane safely but thankfully the pilots knew exactly what they were doing.
Requesting the longest runway
To make sure the heavy plane could stop safely the crew requested the longest available runway for their arrival at that time. It was confirmed that Dublin Airport’s newest runway was open and available to them for this emergency landing. The plane finally landed safely just after 3:00 in the afternoon and I bet everyone was relieved to be back on solid ground.
Medical help on standby
The crew knew they were going to need some help once they landed so they asked for medical personnel to be ready. Dublin Airport Fire and Rescue crews along with paramedics were standing by waiting for the aircraft to touch down. The plane taxied directly to the terminal where the ambulances were already waiting to help anyone feeling sick.
Attending to the crew and passengers
Before they landed the flight crew responded to controllers that they had five flight attendants needing medical attention right away. They also mentioned there were a number of passengers who were going to need help too because of the fumes. We are still waiting for more information from the airline but hopefully everyone recovered quickly after getting some much needed fresh air.
