Ryanair Flight 296

Ryanair Flight 296 is a flight between Dublin International Airport, Ireland and London Stansted Airport, UK. On 27 February, 2002, flight 296 left Dublin at around 4 pm, reaching London Stansted Airport at 5:15 pm. Upon landing, airport crew noticed smoke coming from engine number two of the . Fire services at Stansted were called to the scene and on arrival advised the pilot to evacuate the aircraft.

Two members of the Ryanair aircrew initially struggled to open the emergency doors, before being successfully assisted by other crew members. Additionally, six passengers attempted to evacuate onto the wing of the aircraft where the firefighters were directing their effort. Firefighters ordered the passengers back into the aircraft to use other emergency exits. There were no injuries as a result of the incident and the aircraft was fully evacuated in 90 seconds.

An investigation by The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch found that the smoke was caused by the release of oil from a broken engine bearing into the path of hot gas. There were no signs of fire damage.

The investigation found that during training, cabin crew were informed that in an emergency the doors are more difficult to open due to the need to activate the evacuation slides, but the majority of trainees never experienced the pressure needed. The investigation also made several recommendations to the Civil Aviation Authority on how to better handle similar incidents in the future.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu