LAMEZIA TERME (CATANZARO) – The flaps did not work when the plane was already in flight; the alarm goes off, the plane turns back and is diverted to Lamezia from where with another aircraft the passengers then left for Turin where it landed during the night: this happened to the Ryanair Crotone – Turin flight last Friday with 170 passengers on board . Takeoff around 7pm, landing expected in Turin Caselle at 8.40pm. So far everything is normal, except that the passengers in Turin landed at 4.30 yesterday morning today, Saturday 15 June. And after having left no longer from Crotone, but from Lamezia Terme airport when it was 2.45am. One can imagine the discomfort of the passengers who, enraged, were forced to wait almost all night to be able to leave again.
The unexpected event (which was also dangerous) came to fruition when, shortly after take-off from Crotone, the flight was forced to turn back due to a significant technical problem. That is, the failure of the flaps to function, i.e. the hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft which serve to reduce the speed at which the aircraft can fly safely and increase the angle of descent for the ‘landing. If the flaps do not work, therefore, the plane cannot fly and land safely because, in fact, the plane does not reduce speed, therefore becoming uncontrollable.
At that point the plane reversed and diverted to Lamezia because the runway is safer. Meanwhile, an emergency arose in Lamezia with firefighters, police and ambulances on the runway waiting for the flight, which then landed without major difficulties at 8.30pm (i.e. the expected arrival time at Turin airport). Once in Lamezia, the 170 passengers were taken off the plane while waiting for another plane to take them to their destination. After six hours of waiting – with assistance – the passengers left for Turin, landing when it was almost three in the morning.
