Engine fault forces Loganair’s North Sea flight to turn around

Loganair ATR42 G-L.MRA (Image: Ronnie Robertson/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 2.0)

An Aberdeen to Shetland flight was forced to return to Aberdeen International Airport following a potential engine fault Thursday morning.

The 06.50 am Loganair flight LM901 (18 February), was travelling to Shetland’s Sumburgh Airport when the crew received an alert of a fault with the right-hand engine.

Following the alert, the crew ‘carried out the appropriate actions’ and returned to Aberdeen where the aircraft landed ‘safely and normally’.

A Loganair spokesperson told UK Aviation News that the passengers resumed their journey later that morning on a replacement aircraft, and that “checks to identify the cause of the warning indication are already under way.

“We apologise to customers for the disruption to their journey yet ask for their understanding that safety is always our first priority.”

It is understood that from Aberdeen International Airport’s perspective, an emergency was not declared, instead, staff were placed on local standby but were stood down once the flight landed safely at 8.15 am.

The approximately 1h 15m flight to Scotland’s third-largest island could be tracked returning to Aberdeen via FlightRadar24.

Screengrab of FlightRadar24 website tracking Loganair LM901.

The aircraft, an ATR 42-500, is one of four currently in service with Loganair, with several more on order as the Scottish Airline replaces its fleet of Saab aircraft.

In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines ATR 42-500 crashed killing all 47 onboard. The cause of the crash was the malfunction of the aircraft’s left engine, according to investigators.

About Anttoni James Numminen 16 Articles
Anttoni is a freelance journalist and aviation enthusiast based in Scotland. You can usually find him on Twitter discussing current affairs, aviation and occasionally politics @A_James_Esq.