Spain to investigate Ryanair emergency landings

Ryanair has denied its pilots are under pressure to restrict the amount of fuel they carry after three of its aircraft made emergency landings in Spain last month.

The flights were diverted from Madrid to Valencia due to thunderstorms on July 26 and requested to hold, but subsequently each of the pilots requested to land immediately to prevent using up reserve fuel supplies. Each of the aircraft had already been holding for around an hour.

Spain's aviation authorities have launched an investigation and the Irish Airline Pilots Association has accused Ryanair of making pilots uncomfortable about taking extra fuel onboard.

Ryanair has insisted that each aircraft landed with an additional 30 minutes of fuel and the airline rejected IALPA's claims, saying it would not put fuel before safety.

"All Ryanair flights operate with the required levels of fuel," it said. "This includes fuel for re-routings, diversions and unforeseen events."

Friday, August 17, 2012

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Spain is making a big mistake!

Spain's authorities are making a big mistake. An airplane is supposed to carry payload (passengers and cargo), not just tanker endless amounts of fuel around the sky. The Ryanair planes had fuel to handle a major emergency (an hour of hold time is a LOT), easily complying with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. I don't know Spain's regulations, but I doubt they're more stringent than the FAA's. Note that the planes all landed safely, still with fuel reserves to travel hundreds of miles. All Spain can accomplish with this is to confuse the public about aviation safety. Aviation safety requires that a pilot take action, and after an hour of hold time at the end of a long flight, the action is to land the darn airplane. Dreaming that they should carry an additional few hours' worth of fuel (at expense of leaving tons of payload back on the ground) is worse than unrealistic.

By John Schubert, Friday, August 17, 2012
Is it really a sin to fly with 1.5 hours extra fuel on board?

I am not a Ryanair mega fan but what is the issue here?

By Martin Peirone, Friday, August 17, 2012