A transatlantic flight has landed safely at Shannon Airport having burned off fuel for almost two hours after the crew reported a problem shortly after taking off from Belfast.
There were 121 passengers and a crew of nine on board.
#UA76 landed but to be towed from Runway 06 at #Shannon due to failure of nose wheel
— Andrew McQuillan (@CrowdSafetyNI) October 24, 2016
A transatlantic flight has completed a low flypast over the runway at Shannon Airport to allow traffic controllers carry out a visual inspection of the landing gear from the tower.
Low fly past completed. Landing gear looks to be down and locked. Approach to land expected shortly. #UA76 https://t.co/uDMH2lVB8E
— Pat Flynn (@patsyflynn) October 24, 2016
Emergency services are standing by at Shannon Airport for an aircraft due around 2pm.
.The United Airlines jet has been burning off aviation fuel for almost two hours after the crew reported a problem shortly after taking off from Belfast.
Diversion Update: @united @UA76 will be burning fuel for another hour before making low pass at Shannon for nose gear inspection. pic.twitter.com/tYSIKCQnEZ
— AviationNews24 (@aviationnews24h) October 24, 2016
Flight UA-76 was on its way to Newark in the US when the issue arose.
It is understood the crew reported a possible problem with the aircrafts landing gear.
The crew has been flying up and down the west coast and are due to make an approach to Shannon shortly.
Flight #UA76 from Belfast to New York is burning fuel before returning to Belfast due to tech. problem pic.twitter.com/2MA0D4D2hE
— International Flight Network (@FlightIntl) October 24, 2016
Authorities at Shannon have implemented emergency procedures which includes alerting the statutory emergency services, including local authority fire service, ambulance service and An Garda.
The aircraft is expected to carry out a low flypast over the runway to allowed air traffic controllers to carry out a visual inspection of the landing gear from the tower.