News / Loganair passenger recalls anxious moments
A PASSENGER travelling on the Loganair plane that was forced to make an emergency landing at Kirkwall on Tuesday morning has praised the aircraft’s crew for its professionalism.
Catherine Brown, from Lerwick, said she was “inwardly very anxious” but tried to stay positive.
The GP trainee was one of 25 passengers on board the early morning plane from Aberdeen to Shetland.
The Saab 340 was just minutes away from touching down at Sumburgh airport when the crew discovered a problem with the airframe de-ice system.
Brown said: “Suddenly the plane was ascending again and I thought that was a bit odd.
“After a few minutes the captain came on after speaking to the stewardess and said there was a technical issue, which meant they couldn’t land safely at Sumburgh and had to return to Aberdeen,” she said.
Twenty minutes later the aircraft was circling over Orkney and the captain announced that he would test whether it was safe to land in Kirkwall.
“We were told that there was an issue with the tail of the plane; there was vibration coming from it.
“Every so often we would descend steeply to see what the plane would do.
“I am not used to that happening in a sizeable plane and it was quite frightening. He did that for a few seconds and then level out again.
“After four times he announced that he was satisfied that it was safe to land in Kirkwall.
“The landing was uneventful, and it was only then that I looked to my right and saw the fire engines and several ambulances all with flashing lights,” Brown said.
And she added: “Throughout the whole time all passengers were perfectly calm, there was no panic, nobody was screaming or crying, and I think a lot of that was due to the very calm and professional air hostess.”
“In a situation like that you go through quite a lot, and you think ‘what if I die now?’
“It is incredible what goes through you mind. Inwardly I was very anxious, but outwardly I thought ‘there is no point’, so I kept chatting away to the guy next to me and tried to be positive.”
Emergency services including Kirkwall lifeboat were launched into action on Tuesday morning after it became clear the aircraft would attempt to land in Orkney.
A spokesman for Loganair said: “The problem was with the airframe’s de-ice system that affected the aircraft’s landing performance.
“This was why the pilot opted to divert to an airport with a longer runway than Sumburgh.
“Aberdeen was his first choice but the weather there deteriorated so he then decided to go to Kirkwall.”
A replacement aircraft from Glasgow took the stranded passengers to Sumburgh where they arrived at 1pm.
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