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Two Canary Islands flights hit mid air trouble within days of each other
A Ryanair diversion to Galicia and an easyJet emergency landing at Gatwick both ended safely, but for very different reasons
A Ryanair flight from Dublin to Tenerife South was diverted to Santiago de Compostela on Tuesday October 20 after a passenger on board needed urgent hospital treatment. Flight FR5555 had left the Irish capital at 5.36am, nine minutes ahead of schedule, before the crew made the call to divert following what Spanish air traffic controllers described as a “medical emergency on board and diversion to Santiago airport.”The alert reached controllers as soon as the aircraft entered Spanish airspace, with the pilots requesting permission to head for Galicia. Before beginning their descent, the crew flew a holding pattern to complete their pre landing checklists and prepare each stage of the approach. Once the cockpit confirmed it was ready, air traffic control gave the flight absolute priority and directed it straight to runway 35 at Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport.
On the ground, emergency services had already activated their medical assistance protocols, meaning an ambulance and medical staff were positioned on the tarmac and ready to act the moment the aircraft came to a stop. The plane landed at 9.20am local time. Air traffic controllers later wished the passenger a speedy recovery and thanked other crews operating in the area for their quick, flexible response during the emergency.
With the passenger attended to, the flight continued on to its original destination, touching down at Tenerife South at 11.27am. The exact nature of the medical emergency, along with the nationality of the passenger involved, hasn’t been made public, and no further updates on their condition have been issued. Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport, located around eight miles north of the cathedral city in the town of Lavacolla, is Galicia’s largest and busiest airport, and the second busiest in northern Spain, making it a natural choice for crews needing to divert quickly in that part of the country.
A second incident involving a flight from the Canary Islands also unfolded this week, though with a different cause and a calmer resolution. An easyJet flight travelling from Tenerife to London Gatwick declared an in flight emergency while cruising at 30,000ft, transmitting a squawk 7700 signal, the universal transponder code for a general airborne emergency, as it approached the UK.
Flight tracking service Flightradar24 indicated the alert was triggered by a technical fault. The Airbus A320-200 had left Tenerife at around 10.10pm local time, with the full journey lasting just over four hours, and despite the emergency declaration, it continued on to Gatwick and landed without incident. Social media reports suggested the aircraft was met on the tarmac by emergency response teams, including fire crews, once it had touched down.
An easyJet spokesperson confirmed the flight “experienced a technical issue on arrival into Gatwick this morning,” adding that it “landed normally and was met by emergency services in line with procedures and a precautionary measure only.” The airline reiterated that “the safety and wellbeing of customers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority,” and that its aircraft operate “in strict compliance with manufacturers’ guidelines.”
Image: wikicommons
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