Ryanair- Emergency Landing

Slothy

A Good friend of mine was on flight last monday from Barcelona to Dublin, when it totally nose-dived, and everyone thought they were going to die.

I was wondering if anyone can explain it. As Ryanir didnt give them an explaination, They had to land in Biaritz and hang around for hours 4/5 hours or something....

Also I thought was funny that they didnt even give the shaken passengers a cup of tea or apology when they landed in Biaritz.....
maybe that would of been too expensive?,

I know things happen but anyone able to shed light on this one...
or explain why it would nose dive....

heres the story:
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1283827&issue_id=11664

Pressure problem flight diverted

A DUBLIN-bound Ryanair flight, with more than 100 passengers, had to divert to Biarritz after it developed a pressurisation problem.

Flight FR 1973, a Boeing 737-200, had left Barcelona-Reus yesterday when oxygen masks were deployed and the captain diverted the aircraft to Biarritz airport.

An airline spokesperson said the aircraft had been removed from service to undergo a full inspection

also from the star...

Over 100 Ryanair passengers suffered a terrifying mid-air nightmare when
their plane plummetted a whopping 20,000ft in just 45 seconds.

Occidental

20,000ft in 45 seconds. That'll be factual then.

If an aircraft depressurises, the first task is to get it down to a reasonable altitude (around 14,000ft) so that everyone can breathe without oxygen masks. If it was done at a rate of 20,000ft in 45 seconds, your friend and the aircraft would now be firmly embedded in the French countryside.

Still doesn't excuse lack of explanation from the crew, assuming that's more accurate than the crap printed in the Star.

Slothy

Right, so pilot would of nose dive it on purpose, thats understandable...
tell me whats main reasons for depressurisation.
and why would the pilot tell the passengers not to smoke at this particular point..?

jonny68

Typical Ryanair all over,im just glad i dont hjave to fly with them any more..pathetic..of course there are those people on here who wouldnt have a bad thing said against them........ :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Slothy wrote:

A Good friend of mine was on flight last monday from Barcelona to Dublin, when it totally nose-dived, and everyone thought they were going to die.

I was wondering if anyone can explain it. As Ryanir didnt give them an explaination, They had to land in Biaritz and hang around for hours 4/5 hours or something....

Also I thought was funny that they didnt even give the shaken passengers a cup of tea or apology when they landed in Biaritz.....
maybe that would of been too expensive?,
I know things happen but anyone able to shed light on this one...
or explain why it would nose dive....

heres the story:
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1283827&issue_id=11664



also from the star...

Over 100 Ryanair passengers suffered a terrifying mid-air nightmare when
their plane plummetted a whopping 20,000ft in just 45 seconds.

A Dub in Glasgo

jonny68 wrote:

.of course there are those people on here who wouldnt have a bad thing said against them

Not at all, some of us will have good things to say when they merit it unlike all of the 'I hate Ryanair' brigade who continually moan and whinge

por

jonny68 wrote:

Typical Ryanair all over,im just glad i dont hjave to fly with them any more..pathetic..of course there are those people on here who wouldnt have a bad thing said against them........ :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Ok then, the next time any other airline flying to or from Ireland has to make an emergency landing will someone please gather details on what explanations etc they gave to passangers so we can comapre them with Ryanair.
Now that you don't fly Ryanair anymore jonny68, why do you even give a fcuk about what they do.

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Not at all, some of us will have good things to say when they merit it unlike all of the 'I hate Ryanair' brigade who continually moan and whinge

Well said.

Occidental

Impossible to tell what happened without first hand information, but could be anything from a power/mechanical failure to a faulty instrument.

Not sure what you mean about the pilot telling people not to smoke, but there is the fact that it's illegal and naked flames and oxygen masks don't make good company.

Jonny. Did Michael O'Leary piss in your letterbox or something?

Eurorunner

Jonny. Did Michael O'Leary piss in your letterbox or something?

yeah must either have been his letterbox or his cornflakes. rofl.

therecklessone

Slothy wrote:

also from the star...

Over 100 Ryanair passengers suffered a terrifying mid-air nightmare when
their plane plummetted a whopping 20,000ft in just 45 seconds.

ROFL

jonny68

I travel to Enger-land all the time but no longer with Ryanair as ive had serious amount of crap with them over the years yet in some peoples eyes they can do no wrong,and just in case people think im a hypocrite i do commend them for their occasional low fares,its just the crap ive personally had with them over the years which made me think enough is enough ill fly with another airline,and last weekends flight with BMI was both on time and pleasant,it might have been a little dearer and added extra time onto my onward journey but for the peace of mind it suits me grand....

jonny68

Believe you me if you had the crap ive had with them over the years you would feel exactly the same as i do.......

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Not at all, some of us will have good things to say when they merit it unlike all of the 'I hate Ryanair' brigade who continually moan and whinge

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

seamus

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=199720

Richie12

I was on flight 1973, the one which had a cabin pressure problem.

There are a few points I should raise..

We were initially told to put on our seatbelts, because we were experiencing turbulence (although there was no turbulance). The crew made a big fuss about getting people away from the toilet and back to their seats. They double checked that everyone was strapped in, then I think they informed the pilot who proceeded with the dive.

Half way during the dive the oxygen was deployed.

Because nobody was warned that the plane would be taking a dive, people were obviously very scared, and I thought the pilot had lost control of the plane and it was going down.

Eventually the pilot levelled the plane and spoke to us for the first time. Worryingly, he sounded very young and inexperienced. He didn't really know what to say, and said something like "you obviously will have noticed one or two things have been going on"!! he did tell us there was a pressure problem and that the plane would be landed ASAP.

At this stage the crew started telling us to make sure all emergency exists were clear and went along checking them, picking up any handbags etc. This obviously made us think we were gioing to have a crash landing and that there would be an evacuation.

If the pilot had warned us that he was going to dive, the scare wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

Unecessarily panicking the passengers is potentially dangerous, because people can act dangerously in panic situations.

The plane was a mess, when you sat in the seat you were almost on the floor it was so worn out. The trim was very tatty all over the place. I don't think my seat was reclining properly, and there were visible screws comming out the seat in front.

If the plane had been properly maintained this may not have happened.

I will never ever fly with this airline again.

In my opinion, the level of cost cutting is getting dangerous. Many of the planes are very old, and in bad condition and the cheap staff are often young, overworked and inexperienced.

This is a dangerous combination, because older planes are probably more likely to have technical problems, whilst inexperienced staff probably less well able to deal with them.

I can appreciate the "no frills", but am not willing to compromise my own safety.

As for the service we received.... after landing the staff were nowhere to be seen. They had obviously been instructed not to talk to us, as this was a sensitive issue. The ground staff were incredibly unhelpful.

As I said, I will never, ever use this potentially dangerous airline again.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

seamus

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

But the plane's not diving directly down

With the Nose at 30 degrees down, they'd have to travel 40,000 feet (~12km) in 45 seconds for their altitude to drop by 20,000 feet. 960km/h or 600mph.

I'm not sure if that's right or wrong.

(Pedantically, yes you're right, their downward speed would be ~480km/h)

UNIFLU

am well surprised that passengers were not and have not been informed of a reason for such a drastic action, had a ryanair flight four years ago that had to divert and we were told before the divert the reason for doing so,

strange stuff

therecklessone

Richie12 wrote:

Many of the planes are very old, and in bad condition

<snip>

This is a dangerous combination, because older planes are probably more likely to have technical problems

I'll comment on nothing more than this for the moment.

Ryanair fleet

Boeing-737 800
Number 55
Capacity 189

Boeing-737 200
Number 13
Capacity 130

Boeing-737 300 (Buzz Fleet)
Number 6
Capacity 148

The Boeing 737 800 is a modern aircraft. AFAIK, the aircraft in question are no more than 3 years old (http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=96)

It is probable you travelled on one of the older 737-200/300s, but the majority of the airline's fleet is new.

I'm amused they call it Barcelona-Reus, it's bloody miles away from Barcelona. I was on that flight in the summer and had no problems at all, everything was perfect and the flight even arrived early into Dublin. Though judging by the not so nice comments made by all the Irish passengers on the flight about previous Ryanair experiences, I'd say I was just lucky.

Oh, the condition of the plane was rather ****e though.

por

Richie12 wrote:

I was on flight 1973, the one which had a cabin pressure problem.......................
If the plane had been properly maintained this may not have happened.

I will never ever fly with this airline again............

As I said, I will never, ever use this potentially dangerous airline again.

Do you wish to name and shame ?

secret_squirrel

Post Deleted due to a misreading on my part.

jonny68

Richie sorry to hear that,it sounds like an absolute nightmare experience to go through,as a regular air traveller im very thankful i have never experienced anything as bad as this,your comemnts here about Ryanair are spot on,i have quite rightly lambasted them on this forum for a number of reasons but alas it seems there are some people on here who believe they can do no wrong,either that or they are loyal employees of this airline,sorry again to read about your horrible experience

Richie12 wrote:

I was on flight 1973, the one which had a cabin pressure problem.

There are a few points I should raise..

We were initially told to put on our seatbelts, because we were experiencing turbulence (although there was no turbulance). The crew made a big fuss about getting people away from the toilet and back to their seats. They double checked that everyone was strapped in, then I think they informed the pilot who proceeded with the dive.

Half way during the dive the oxygen was deployed.

Because nobody was warned that the plane would be taking a dive, people were obviously very scared, and I thought the pilot had lost control of the plane and it was going down.

Eventually the pilot levelled the plane and spoke to us for the first time. Worryingly, he sounded very young and inexperienced. He didn't really know what to say, and said something like "you obviously will have noticed one or two things have been going on"!! he did tell us there was a pressure problem and that the plane would be landed ASAP.

At this stage the crew started telling us to make sure all emergency exists were clear and went along checking them, picking up any handbags etc. This obviously made us think we were gioing to have a crash landing and that there would be an evacuation.

If the pilot had warned us that he was going to dive, the scare wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

Unecessarily panicking the passengers is potentially dangerous, because people can act dangerously in panic situations.

The plane was a mess, when you sat in the seat you were almost on the floor it was so worn out. The trim was very tatty all over the place. I don't think my seat was reclining properly, and there were visible screws comming out the seat in front.

If the plane had been properly maintained this may not have happened.

I will never ever fly with this airline again.

In my opinion, the level of cost cutting is getting dangerous. Many of the planes are very old, and in bad condition and the cheap staff are often young, overworked and inexperienced.

This is a dangerous combination, because older planes are probably more likely to have technical problems, whilst inexperienced staff probably less well able to deal with them.

I can appreciate the "no frills", but am not willing to compromise my own safety.

As for the service we received.... after landing the staff were nowhere to be seen. They had obviously been instructed not to talk to us, as this was a sensitive issue. The ground staff were incredibly unhelpful.

As I said, I will never, ever use this potentially dangerous airline again.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

seamus

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

In fairness, I was on a flight back from Londond recently that was 35 minutes late taking off, and he landed in just 15 minutes late. Mid-flight he said we were travelling around 580mph (nautical), which I thought was a bit fast. Especially for a 737.

Twas Aer Lingus.

pollyantic

I had a couple of mates on the that plane. 2 of them ended up with burst eardrums and ryanair just decided that it wasnt their fault. They wouldnt get a doctor for them as that would meaning admitting liability i suppose.
Hours later they put them on a flight home. When they got home they went straight to a doctor who told them that they should not have been ecven allowed to fly with their ears in that condition.
I have decided to never fly ryanair again. I'm just surprised the people on board didnt have to pay for the extra landing charges for the emergencey landing that ryanair would have been charged.

por

jonny68 wrote:

Richie sorry to hear that,it sounds like an absolute nightmare experience to go through,as a regular air traveller im very thankful i have never experienced anything as bad as this,your comemnts here about Ryanair are spot on,i have quite rightly lambasted them on this forum for a number of reasons but alas it seems there are some people on here who believe they can do no wrong,either that or they are loyal employees of this airline,sorry again to read about your horrible experience

Some peoples belief that Ryanair can do no wrong (as you put it) is only equalled by your belief that they can do no right jonny68

Curiously is your reply to Richie12 post why did you not mention Easyjet, Aer Lingus and the other low cost airlines throughout Europe when you said his comments were spot on? According to Richie12 post he is concerned about the cost cutting by airlines

Richie12 wrote:

In my opinion, the level of cost cutting is getting dangerous.

.

On the issue if safety on low cost airline I would believe that they would be more safety conscious that most, a crash involving a low coast carrier would mean the end of that carrier (e.g. Value Jet in the US in 1996), people would desert them in droves, that would not be the case with other ‘established’ carriers.
.

therecklessone

seamus wrote:

In fairness, I was on a flight back from Londond recently that was 35 minutes late taking off, and he landed in just 15 minutes late. Mid-flight he said we were travelling around 580mph (nautical), which I thought was a bit fast. Especially for a 737.

Twas Aer Lingus.

Had to Ground Speed (GS) he was talking about seamus, not Indicated Air Speed (IAS). Very easy to do a GS of up to 600 kts with a strong tailwind behind you.

secret_squirrel

pollyantic wrote:

2 of them ended up with burst eardrums

What seriously? as in complete and permanent deafness in one or more ears? Why didnt they go straight to a casualty dept? If that was me Id be onto a solictor like a shot.

A Dub in Glasgo

jonny68 wrote:

Believe you me if you had the crap ive had with them over the years you would feel exactly the same as i do.......

I have been flying regularly to Dublin from the UK during the last 13 years. First off, it was Ryanair from Liverpool to Dublin in the early 1990s then when I moved to Glasgow, it was Aer Lingus but that was so expensive I had to reduce the number of trips per year to about 3. Ryanair came on the scene and fly Prestwick to Dublin. The prices compared to AL were amazing and I have used them about 30 times on this route. AL saw what was happening and have gradually reduced their prices to compete. I also tried GO when they done the Glasgow to Dublin route.

As part of my work, I have flown from Glasgow to Luton with Easyjet many times, Glasgow to Heathrow with BA a few times, Glasgow to Gatwick with BA once and Glasgow to Bristol with BE twice. On football trips, I have flown Liverpool to Barcelona with Easyjet once and Glasgow to Amsterdam with Easyjet once. I have been delayed by every Airline at some stage.

The worst experience with Ryanair was being late coming into Liverpool Airport and missing my last train connection to Bolton. Ryanair refunded the taxi fare. The worst experience of my many flight trips was last year when my my wife and 2 young sons were stranded at Glasgow Airport for 8 hours. The Aer Lingus flight to Dublin was due to leave at 17:30 but it did not leave until 01:00 the next day. There was weather problems at Dublin Airport.

Obviously this particular incident was scary and Ryanair should have been more professional with their explanations to the passengers.

Slothy

I was the original poster on this thread.
I just want to put one last point.. (well i address some issue before stating it :-) )

I think Ryanair have had a generally positive effect on Ireland.
I personally find Michael O'Leary very amusing and generally think he has done a great job and enabled people to get to Ireland and out of it cheaply.

Our country really needs a service like them we are so stuck on the edge of Europe (with **** weather, so it has to be cheap to get here!)

Anway about the Emergency landing....
I think generally these things happen and personally I don't think it is due to budgeting in the saftey area, for a company like Ryanair a plc and with such a volume of flights would not make commercial sense as eventually it would result in statisitics of a bad safety record. Thats the last thing they would want.

Public Perception of Safety
I think however that they should be careful that the public does not percieve them to be cuting costs... I think it sometimes myself, I recently went to portugal on a flight and the plane looked really tatty the outside. Bits of metal riveted on the outside that looked like amateur repairs and stuff.. the inside....some seats were torn some had missing headrest covers ...that sort of thing.... maybe its a different department to how ryanair deal with safety and to reassure myself.
(I contrast that with any of the aerlingus flights lately they had nice leather seats!)

anyway,
thats the safety issue I dont think there is one but there is or might be a growing perception from the public I dont know.

Brand Disloyalty?
But the main thing is at some point or many points someone has felt treated badly by Ryanair. I have twice.
Once I left an expensive jacket on board flight to france and reported it and never heard from them again, I was a bit pissed.

Last month ryanair charged me for bringing a body board back from portugal I can kind of understand but..

1. they didn't charge me for it on the out (from dublin) but charged me on the way back.
2. the body board is only worth €50 (one way extra luggage was €25)
3. it is a small piece of foam and doesnt weigh anything and can't break (like surfbaord)
4. I couldn't just pay instantly at check-in, I had to check in, then walk over to the shipping handlers desk (portway) cue again pay get a receipt go back again to the ryainair check-in with the receipt.
5. Generally I was pissed.
6. This whole thing slowed the whole check in process for everyone their was like 6 ahead of me when i started cuing and was cuing for hour and half.

But I do feel that if someone wants to bring extra baggage it is more equitable for that person to pay for it directly. In this situation with me I didnt think it was equitable.

Anyway. my point is I wonder will the public remember being treated like this?
I was really disgusted on hearing the way the passangers were treated after such a flight above... at least address them and offer them a cup of coffee some people are more dlicate than others and would of appreciated it.

I think in this case Ryanair probably dont care cos they basically get away with it....

Lastly after all this my main point is....
In the long term will they get away with it?
Will the publice remember how they were treated by Ryanair, when eventually other airlines "catch-up" with their business model and there is an alternative airline at similar price....


I dont know really, maybe customers will have memory?

irlhost

Ryanair are one of the companies, which won't put defibrillators on their planes to protect passengers and crew.

penexpers

Slothy wrote:

I dont know really, maybe customers will have memory?

I have memories of hardly ever being able to fly in the days before Ryanair due to high Aer Lingus fares.

I, personally, am under no illusion that if something goes wrong on a Ryanair flight then I am not going to get anything off them. But then again, I've been to more places because of Ryanair, so the odd discomfort is worth it.

Eurorunner

penexpers wrote:

I have memories of hardly ever being able to fly in the days before Ryanair due to high Aer Lingus fares.

I, personally, am under no illusion that if something goes wrong on a Ryanair flight then I am not going to get anything off them. But then again, I've been to more places because of Ryanair, so the odd discomfort is worth it.

Agree with the above.

Ryanair and Easyjet will still be standing along with just a couple of others when the price war is over. They are too big at this stage and in a relatively healthy state.
I couldnt say that i have any loyalty towards them other than the fact that they provide the best value for the basics (i appreciate people perceive 'value' at differing levels). If this changes, then i would have no qualms about flying with someone else.

A Dub in Glasgo

Yep, i too have memories at how damn expensive it was to fly with Aer Lingus and British Airways and also not have a real choice of destinations. I am prepared to put up with a level of cheapness as long as I can get the cheap flights. I have no real loyalty with Ryanair as I will fly with Aer Lingus if their price is close to Ryanair (Glasgow Airport is closer than Prestwick). I will put my experiences when the evitable rant comes about Ryanair on these boards though.

Occidental

irlhost wrote:

Ryanair are one of the companies, which won't put defibrillators on their planes to protect passengers and crew.

Neither have Aer Lingus unless you're going longhaul, so I presume we should all only fly transatlantic.

Turner

Slothy wrote:

and why would the pilot tell the passengers not to smoke at this particular point..?

Pure Oxygen = extremely flammable. You would have been a exploding into flames nose diving no frills plane.

Chief---

mrbungle

Slothy wrote:

Right, so pilot would of nose dive it on purpose, thats understandable...
tell me whats main reasons for depressurisation.
and why would the pilot tell the passengers not to smoke at this particular point..?

Firstly it is the Pilot in Commands duty and responsibilty to fly the aircraft first, not to have a full blow conversation with the passengers !! At that moment in time, both crew members action and troublshoot the problem.

They would want to get below 14,000 feet and closer to 10,000 because of the possibility of hypoxia, in case the oxygen fails. This altitude and condition is desired because of hypoxia's quick acting effects on judgement.

What and how much the crew then tells the pax is their call, depending on the workload needed and the state of the situation.
Asking people not to smoke, well people sometimes do strange and/or habitual things in times of stress.

Informing the pax after the incident, well thats just a bit of curtesy.

I'm not going to get into a slagging war. There was no major commericial accidents in the 90's in the British Isles, (touch wood !!), this being the proliferation on no-frill, low cast and seeing a huge volume increase in air travel.

Has safety really been an issue ?? or has the Irish and British low cost model just been tarnished with the same brush as the badly proven records of US based low-cost airlines such as ValuJet and other sus setups in the past....

Slutmonkey57b

Safety is definantly an issue. The only time I have ever been scared on a flight was on a Ryanair flight, and not due to an incident, purely because of the physical condition of the plane. If O'Leary had a choice between saving €50 on repairs and someone's life, I have no doubts about which he considers more important.
Ryanair get lauded a lot over here for their "groundbreaking" approach. The only groundbreaking element of it is the company's total, upfront, naked hatred for the customer. If you don't mind that, and you don't mind the fact that O'Leary would throw you out the door in mid-air to save money on fuel, then go ahead and fly with them. EasyJet are just as cheap but at least manage to attempt to care about what they're doing, even when they're obviously not doing it well.

mrbungle

All of Ryan-Airs aircraft and any other airliners have to comply with national and international regulations. Ownership and servicability of an aircraft is governed by the IAA.

Unless they are buying cheap spare parts on the grey market, you shouldn't really worry about safety and costs saving. PW, GE or RR, whoever is servicing their engines, you can bet that they don't skimp on spares.

As for upholstery...

Most of the taxis in Dublin stink, as do the drivers. They get you safely from A to B, usually in a Diesel Carina E.

Ryanair, in a vaguely metaphoric way, are similar, except usually cheaper than most taxi's.

The bottom line is you don't ask the stinkin' taxi man if his taxi has been NCT'd ? Or when he last changed his oil, tyres, underwear, etc.

You wouldn't do it getting onto a 737 either.

Eurorunner

purely because of the physical condition of the plane

There are standards to adhere to ...as pointed out by mrbungle.
Can you give more info on the physical condition of this particular plane??

The only groundbreaking element of it is the company's total, upfront, naked hatred for the customer.

So all those hundreds of thousands of customers that keep coming back for more just cant get enough then....Sado-M freakz..... :eek:

you don't mind the fact that O'Leary would throw you out the door in mid-air to save money on fuel, then go ahead and fly with them. EasyJet are just as cheap but at least manage to attempt to care about what they're doing, even when they're obviously not doing it well.

So who do you fly with then?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

por

Slutmonkey57b wrote:

The only groundbreaking element of it is the company's total, upfront, naked hatred for the customer. If you don't mind that, and you don't mind the fact that O'Leary would throw you out the door in mid-air to save money on fuel.

Thank you Slutmonkey57b for making my day, that is by far the funniest thing I have ever seen written on these boards, the idea that Ryanair have a 'naked hatred for the customer' and the idea of O' Leary being pissed that too many people are on board is just plain laughable.

So you reckon Ryanair would prefer to have empty seats to save on fuel rather that palnes full of paying passangers.

secret_squirrel

por wrote:

So you reckon Ryanair would prefer to have empty seats to save on fuel rather that palnes full of paying passangers.

Duh - His point there was that the passengers would have already paid....

And whilst its tongue in cheek it does sum up how Michael O'Leary operates....