A FLIGHT from Dublin to Galway was forced to make an emergency landing at Shannon airport yesterday after the pilot had to shut down one of the aircraft's two engines because of technical difficulties.
The captain of Aer Arann flight RE231, a Fokker 50 twin-engine aircraft, issued a "pan-pan" warning shortly after 9.30am yesterday, and notified air traffic control at Shannon that he needed to divert to that airport.
A pan-pan differs from a Mayday call because there is no immediate danger to life.
The pilot notified controllers that a problem had arisen with the aircraft's right engine and that he had to close it down.
The flight, which left Dublin at 9.13am, was carrying 30 passengers and a crew of five.
It touched down safely at Shannon airport at 10.10am.
The aircraft was met by airport crash crews which escorted it to the terminal building where engineers were standing by to carry out an inspection.
Local authority fire crews from Shannon were also deployed to the airport, while units of the fire brigade from Ennis were sent to a holding point.
The passengers were transported to their final destination by coach.
In a separate incident, passengers had to abandon a Ryanair flight before take-off to Britain from Poland yesterday after one of its wheels got stuck in mud.
The Ryanair Boeing 737 had been preparing to take off from Lodz in Poland for East Midlands airport with 170 people on board when it left the runway while trying to turn.
An airport spokesman said that wind conditions forced aircraft to use the full length of the runway yesterday.
Officials closed the airport to enable the aircraft be pulled back on to the runway.
The passengers were subsequently taken by bus 130km (80 miles) east to Warsaw for another flight. - (AP)