Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Passengers tell of “rattling” engine as Inverness flight forced to turn back

Inverness Airport
Inverness Airport

Air passengers on their way to Inverness were caught up in a mid-air drama when their plane was forced to turn back yesterday due to a fault.

Passengers on the Flybe service from Birmingham to Inverness service spoke of their anxiety after hearing a rattling and a banging from the craft mid-journey.

The pilot earlier told those on board that they would be returning to West Midlands Airport due to hydraulic problems.

Passengers then endured a 40-minute return flight and a further 30-minutes circling while the crew used up fuel before making an emergency landing.

The Bombadier Dash 8 Q400 left Birmingham at 9.15am and was due to arrive at Inverness at 10.50am.

It was approaching the Yorkshire Dales with 73 passengers on board when the emergency situation developed.

Fire engines and other emergency services were in position for the landing with passengers kept on board for another 30 minutes after touchdown, before being towed back to the terminal.

A jet was then drafted in as a replacement.

The delayed passengers arrived in Inverness at 2pm yesterday – more than three hours late.

Angela Birch and Martyn Huntley, of Birmingham, were en route to the Highlands for a two day break around Loch Ness.

Ms Birch, 57, said: “I thought one of the engines sounded a bit funny. Then the pilot came on and said there were hydraulic problems and we were turning around and going back to Birmingham.”

Ms Birch said when she saw the fire service on the runway and was worried that the plane might explode.

Keith Judd, a 56-year-old joiner of Leicester Forest East, said he heard a bang while in mid-air.

He watched firefighters and the pilot as they inspected the landing gear below the starboard engine.

Mr Judd said he saw fluid dripping onto the runway while passengers were waiting to be taken to the terminal.

There was also a knock-on effect for the return flight from Inverness-Birmingham. It was due to leave at 4.30pm but passengers were told that it would not depart until after 7pm.

A spokeswoman for Flybe said: “We can confirm that the captain elected to return to Birmingham from airborne following a technical fault with the aircraft.

“The aircraft landed safely without incident and was towed to stand where all 73 passengers disembarked as normal.

“As is common practice in such situations, the airport put emergency vehicles on standby as a precautionary measure.”

The airline apologised for the inconvenience experienced, but added: “The safety of our passengers and crew is the number one priority.”