Emergency landing of Ryanair plane at Limoges: 16 injured

[sn26567]

Out of 168 passengers and 7 crew members, 16 have been affected by minor problems and brought to hospital after an emergency landing of a Ryanair aeroplane at Limoges (France) because of a pressure loss in the cabin.

The aircraft had left the United Kingdom to Spain and landed at 23:30 (21:30 GMT) in Limoges "as a precautionary measure", said Ryanair, which added that the passengers brought to the hospital suffered from hearing problems. "Ryanair confirms that flight FR9336 from Bristol to Barcelona-Girona Monday evening had a depressurisation problem which caused the deployment of oxygen masks", said a spokesman of the airline.

"As a precautionary measure, the captain decided to fly at a lower level and to divert the aircraft to Limoges airrport. The 168 passengers disembarked after landing. Sixteen passengers were taken to hospital, at their request, because they complained of hearing problems", she added.

According to French police, the Boeing 737 went down 8,000 meters in five minutes.

At 03:30 (01:30 GMT) this Tuesday, a similar plane sent by Ryanair from Bristol airport, departed from Limoges with 127 passengers on board. The other tourists did not want to re-embark after the incident, and would go to Girona by coach this Tuesday at 12:00 (10:00 GMT).

[sdbelgium]

A Ryanair 737 experienced a sudden loss of pressure during a Bristol - Gerona flight above the South of France. It performed an emergency descent with a descent rate of 5250 fpm. 16 or 26 people on board have been hurt by this (different sources mention other figures). There were 168 pax on board. Emergency landing in base Limoges and FR will send a replacement plane to bring pax to Gerona. For pax who do not want to fly agian immediately, they have sent a coach to pick them up.

More info:
http://www.flightlevel.be/080826_drukve ... onden.html (Dutch)
http://deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie/bui ... ng_ryanair (Dutch)
http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/monde/un ... 1645.shtml (French)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7581492.stm (English)

[LX-LGX]

Arctic explorer Pen Hadow who was on board.

I strongly suggest you listen to the 8 minute interview he gave BBC Radio this morning (see link in the article below).

It's shocking to hear how poor everybody at Ryanair feels about the wellfare from its clients. Off course, he says, the priority from the crew was to bring us down safely. But they didn't tell us a) what was going on and b) what their plan was. Pax Hadow says the oxygen masks on board deployed, but didn't work. He says no comment from the cockpit was given till 15 minutes before landing. The announcement that there has been an oxygen problem was ridiculous, he says, as they all knew it by then. During the 10 or 20 minutes of the critical situation, pax didn't hear or saw nobody.

That's also the reason why he spoke to BBC: there was no sense of frontline communication from Ryanair towards the passengers: not in the air, not on the ground.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7581492.stm

[regi]

The sudden decompression can also lead to loss of balance ( the balance organ is just behind your ears )
With most people this leads to some nausea. But it can cause more serious side effects such as hyper ventilation, high blood pressure, total loss of body control ( vomitting, wetting your pants and even...) , acute panic, chest pain etcetera.
An indirect result of such sudden panic reactions can even be heart problems .
So it is something more serious than at first sight.
Bearing this in mind, the information to the passengers should have been more detailed to relax them , inform them to keep swallinging ( to avoid the hearing problem); He should also have informed the cabin crew to be extra aware about passengers who would show signs of a acute panic disorder.
By the way: I wonder how those hospitalised people would regard it when they are informed that their hearing might be damaged for some months.

[stefanel]

AFP article in French, happened last night
http://www.lalibre.be/breaking_news_det ... source=afp

Regards,

Stef

[itami]

My conclusion about Ryanair : you get what you pay for.

[teddybAIR]

In case of a decompression at high altitudes, crews will focus on reastablishing a survivable atmosphere to human life. I am very sorry to say, but announcements to comfort passangers and reasure them are probably a lower priority item compared to descending to an altitude where oxygen concentrations are sufficient to sustain life.

Therefore, number one priority was the rapid descent (not loss of altitude as mentionned mistakingly/deceptively in some artikels). It was a rapid, nevertheless controlled descent which is standard procedure in case of sudden decompressions.

Moreover, it is not the first time that passengers report the oxygen masks not to be working. Nevertheless, one should know that these masks only provide the bare minimum oxygen one needs to survive. This off course does not feel as comfortable as in your everyday situation, but hey, this is a measure which maximises your survival chances.

Again I regret the press' tabloid style way of reporting such incidents.

Best regards,
bAIR

[taz1968]

In case of a decompression at high altitudes, crews will focus on reastablishing a survivable atmosphere to human life. I am very sorry to say, but announcements to comfort passangers and reasure them are probably a lower priority item compared to descending to an altitude where oxygen concentrations are sufficient to sustain life.

Therefore, number one priority was the rapid descent (not loss of altitude as mentionned mistakingly/deceptively in some artikels). It was a rapid, nevertheless controlled descent which is standard procedure in case of sudden decompressions.

Moreover, it is not the first time that passengers report the oxygen masks not to be working. Nevertheless, one should know that these masks only provide the bare minimum oxygen one needs to survive. This off course does not feel as comfortable as in your everyday situation, but hey, this is a measure which maximises your survival chances.

Again I regret the press' tabloid style way of reporting such incidents.

Best regards,
bAIR

bAIR you are totally correct on your comments.
What this Ryannair happened was a big crisis situation, crews will not have the time to explain to the passengers whats happening, there only concern is to get the A/C down savely.
Its easy to bitch at the pilots after a save landing.
I wonder what all would say when the pilot took his time to explain what was happening, while in the mean time the A/C was crashing down?

rgds Taz

[Homo Aeroportus]

My conclusion about Ryanair : you get what you pay for.

i.e. a well trained pilot who handled an emergency in a professional way and landed safely.

Concerning oxygen mask not functioning : maybe worth listening carefully to the safety demo, no?

OK, it would have been nice and reassuring to hear from the front office what was happening in detail (and for sure AFTER the emergency had been handled), but I am not sure it would have prevented some to anyhow found that it was not sufficient or truthful.

Anyone any info on what caused the sudden decompression?

Tks.

[FlightMate]

yeah, go and criticize the crew who managed to save everybody's life.

People would maybe have been far more happy with sadly famous Elios flight, where it all went smootly, no dramatic "altitude loss", but where everybody died.

Please, don't criticize Ryanair's safety procedures, I'm sure they're safer than many other no-lo-cost airlines.
And at least, they can afford to hire good pilots.

[Airbus330lover]

In case of a decompression at high altitudes, crews will focus on reastablishing a survivable atmosphere to human life. I am very sorry to say, but announcements to comfort passangers and reasure them are probably a lower priority item compared to descending to an altitude where oxygen concentrations are sufficient to sustain life.

Therefore, number one priority was the rapid descent (not loss of altitude as mentionned mistakingly/deceptively in some artikels). It was a rapid, nevertheless controlled descent which is standard procedure in case of sudden decompressions.

Moreover, it is not the first time that passengers report the oxygen masks not to be working. Nevertheless, one should know that these masks only provide the bare minimum oxygen one needs to survive. This off course does not feel as comfortable as in your everyday situation, but hey, this is a measure which maximises your survival chances.

Again I regret the press' tabloid style way of reporting such incidents.

Best regards,
bAIR

Ok for cockpit crew.
For the rest, the FA could do more and avoid a complementary stress for the passengers.
For information, FA are on the flight for security and to give correct assistance and information to the PAX.
By FR, Fa seems only used to sell lotery and food..... lack of formation ?
By the way, good job done by the pilots

[fc82091]

pax think a plane is like a bus. they have no idea how everything works, what the procedures are etc so their reaction is rather normal. too bad the media always try to focus on negative news rather then a "good job crew" message

[Charlie Roy]

FA are on the flight for security and to give correct assistance and information to the PAX.

But the FA's also need to have their oxygen masks on and need to concentrate on their breathing, otherwise they risk losing consciousness. I really think the FA's are paralysed in their ability to assist pax during such a situation, unless they have portable oxygen tanks that they can wear, which in turn have built-in microphones in the breathing apparatus that's radioly connected to the PA.
What airline has this for their FA's?

Do you get automatically refunded when such a thing happens? It's not exactly what you paid for
What entitlements to compensation, if any, do the pax have? I suppose anyone is free to pursue a civil case to search for damages to compensate ensuing nightmares, fear of flying etc etc etc ???