Seventy people on a flight from Manchester to Knock Airport in Co Mayo escaped serious injury last night when their aircraft crash-landed on two of its three wheels.
One wing skidded along the runway at Manchester Airport before the aircraft came to a halt. Passengers were evacuated through emergency chutes as firefighters covered the machine with foam.
The pilot was praised for his skill in controlling the craft during what Manchester airport authorities described as a "full-scale emergency". Two of the 66 passengers were injured, suffering "friction burns" caused by sliding down the canvas chutes. Another with a pacemaker was reportedly taken to hospital in a state of distress.
Flight number BA 7725, operated by the British Airways franchisee British Regional Airlines, had taken off from Manchester at 5 p.m. bound for Knock.
Shortly after takeoff the pilot noticed a problem with the left undercarriage of the turbo-propellor aircraft, a British Aerospace ATP. He reported it by radio to Manchester Airport. As fire engines and ambulances stood by, the pilot circled the aircraft for three hours to burn off excess fuel before heading back towards the runway.
"The pilot told us as we were coming in for the final approach that we should get into the crash position, and that was pretty bad," one passenger, Mark Flanagan (29) from Manchester, said.
"Then I was thinking: `This is the end.' There was a nun on board and some people were saying Hail Marys. When they started praying we knew it was quite serious."
Another said some passengers "got really frightened when they got into the crash positions. They took off their glasses and their false teeth out."P}The pilot landed the aircraft just after 8 p.m. with the left undercarriage still up. He steered it along the runway on its nose and right wing wheels, until the left wing came down and scraped along the ground.
"There was a small fire, probably sparks made by the plane as one wing touched the runway on landing. It was extinguished by the time the plane stopped," a Manchester Fire Brigade spokesman said.
An airline spokeswoman, Ms Sue Redmond, said last night she did not yet know how many of the passengers were Irish. Passengers were offered hotel accommodation and arrangements were being made for an alternative flight to Knock today.
Knock Airport management said passengers who were at the Co Mayo airport waiting for the return flight to Manchester would probably not travel until today.
In 1990 the British Aerospace ATP aircraft were the subject of a Civil Aviation Authority directive requiring regular undercarriage checks, after the undercarriage of one almost failed at Birmingham Airport.
Last night Mr Chris Darke, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association which represents all commercial pilots in the UK, commended the pilot.