- Virgin Atlantic flight in emergency landing at Manchester as ‘smoke fills cockpit’
- Virgin Atlantic flight makes emergency landing at Manchester Airport
A Virgin Atlantic plane made an emergency landing at Manchester Airport after pilots reported ‘dense acrid smoke’ in the cockpit. The jet was met on the runway by fire engines after landing at 1.50pm on Sunday.
It had taken off from Manchester on route to Barbados less than an hour earlier, but was forced to return after declaring an emergency over the Irish Sea around 20 minutes into the journey. Aviation website AirLive reported there were unconfirmed reports of ‘smoke in the cockpit’.
The website later updated its piece to say ‘pilots are reporting dense and acrid smell of smoke on air traffic control’, before adding the flight had ‘landed safely on runway 05R, met by fire engines to cool the brakes’.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “The VS77 from Manchester to Barbados has returned to Manchester due to a technical issue. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“We’ll ensure our customers can complete their travel plans and keep them updated directly on next steps.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “At just after 1.30pm today (Sunday), firefighters were called to an incident involving an aircraft making an emergency landing at Manchester Airport. Three fire engines from Wythenshawe and Stockport, the Technical Response Unit from Ashton and the Command Support Unit from Hyde arrived quickly at the scene.
“Working alongside Manchester Airport fire personnel, firefighters were on standby for the aircraft’s arrival, which landed safely. Our crews were in attendance for approximately one and a half hours.”
