Passengers fear for lives as BMI
plane is diverted
 By Staff Reporter
PASSENGERS on board a BMI plane last week told how they feared for their
lives when their flight from London to Dublin unexpectedly diverted to
Shannon without explanation.
One man’s wife told how after he phoned her on his mobile she feared
she would never see him again.
Frightened passengers were not told that a system for guiding planes in
poor conditions known as an Instrument Landing System (ILS) was out of
action at Dublin airport due to upgrade work.
The system has not been working for the past two weeks and is expected
to be out of action for a further two weeks.
But the Irish Aviation Authority said an alternative system was available
to pilots although this was not used by the pilot of the flight.
The British airline BMI has now launched an investigation into the incident.
The airline apologised to passengers after hearing how many of them feared
for their lives when the aircraft halted its descent into Dublin and became
airborne again without those on board being told what was happening.
In total passengers spent almost five hours on flight BD131 from Heathrow
to Dublin — which had been due to arrive at 7.05pm. But due to the
diversion to Shannon it did not finally touch down in Dublin until 10.38pm.
Shaken passengers on the flight recounted how they were only offered an
explanation as to what had happened after the aircraft had landed at Shannon
and been sitting on the runway for about 30 minutes.
A spokeswoman for BMI said there had been heavy rain and poor visibility
at Dublin on Wednesday evening and the pilot had been unable to rely on
an instrument landing system at the airport which is usually relied on
in cloudy or poor weather conditions.
The spokeswoman said the ILS was not working on the runway and when the
pilot realised he could not use this approach he opted, in the interests
of safety, to divert to Shannon. It appears the BMI pilot had descended
to a height of 600ft but still found that there was thick cloud below
him, making visibility poor.
Dublin businessman Donal Prior aged 43 who was on board the BMI flight
spoke of his concern about the lack of information. His wife Deirdre said
although he had sounded calm when he phoned her from Shannon he later
told her how at one stage he feared he would not see her and their four
children again.
He said that when passengers asked cabin crew what was happening and why
they were going to Shannon they were told the crew were as much in the
dark as the passengers.
Mrs Prior said because of the climate since 9/11 she had been very concerned
for her husband’s safety. She said: “I quite honestly thought:
‘This is the last time I’m going to talk to this guy’.”
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