US military aircraft make emergency landing at Shannon

Pat Flynn

A United States Air Force (USAF) military transport aircraft made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport on Saturday evening after the crew reported a problem with one of the plane’s engines.

Two Lockheed Martin HC-130J Hercules aircraft were due to make a technical stop at Shannon en route to Europe from Bangor in the US state of Maine.

Shortly before the two turbo-prop aircraft were due to land in Shannon, the crew of the first flight, using the callsign Reach-5708, reported they were declaring an emergency. The crew told air traffic controllers they had a "precautionary engine shut-down".

There were 21 personnel on board the aircraft while the crew confirmed they had to shut down their ‘No.2 engine’.

Shannon Airport’s Fire and Rescue Service was alerted and crews mobilised to holding points alongside the runway ahead of the aircraft’s arrival.

The flight landed safely at 7.04pm and was pursued along the runway by airport fire crews. The pilot confirmed the landing was normal. The aircraft was then directed to a remote stand accompanied by emergency vehicles.

The second USAF aircraft was placed in a holding pattern briefly to allow the emergency flight land and vacate the runway. Operations at Shannon were otherwise unaffected.

Just last month, another US military transport plane diverted to Shannon Airport after the crew declare an emergency over the Atlantic.

The Lockheed Hercules C130J was making its way to the USAF air base at Ramstein in Germany at the time. At around 6.15am, while the turboprop aircraft was still west of Ireland, the crew declared an emergency and requested clearance to divert to Shannon Airport.

The crew confirmed they were experiencing a ‘pressurisation’ issue with their aircraft. It’s understood there were six personnel on board. The flight landed safely at 7.03am and was followed along the runway by airport and local authority fire crews who also accompanied the aircraft to its parking stand.