Flybe Makes Emergency Landing - Again

There was a mid-flight emergency today as a flight from Manchester to the George Best Belfast City Airport was forced to make an emergency landing on the Isle of Man - and it's not the first such emergency.

Today, some 89 passengers were on board the Flybe aircraft, which landed safely on the Irish Sea island "as a precaution" after smoke began to filter into the cabin.

A company spokeswoman said the crew said they could smell smoke in the cockpit: "The aircraft, an Embraer 195, made an emergency descent into the Isle of Man Airport as a precautionary measure, landing at 1.17pm," she said.

This is not the first such incident. A similar plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Leeds Bradford Airport after smoke, which began to fill the cabin, sparked an almost identical alert a few years ago.

On that occasion - in August 2005 - the Flybe flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh was forced to make an emergency landing at Leeds Bradford after smoke appeared in the cabin.

At the time, Flybe told the BBC that the smoke appeared to have originated from one of the engines and that the plane had landed at Leeds Bradford as a precaution, due to the thickness of the smoke.

As with today's incident, all 55 passengers and crew were taken safely off the flight when it landed.

See: Plane makes emergency landing at Leeds Bradford

(BMcC)