Ryanair flight carrying 171 passengers was just minutes from disaster after three failed landings
A Ryanair flight travelling from Italy to Scotland ended up landing at Manchester, with just minutes of fuel remaining after multiple aborted landings.
On 3 October 2025, flight 9H-QBD had been heading from Pisa International Airport to Glasgow Prestwick with six crew and 171 passengers on board.
Adverse weather conditions had meant that the pilots had discussed contingency plans prior to the flight, agreeing that they would divert to Manchester if they needed to, according to a report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The report said that these plans included that the crew took on extra fuel for the flight to 'allow for possible delays and diversions due to the weather', a decision which may well have averted disaster.
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When the flight arrived at Glasgow Prestwick, it made an attempt to land, but was prevented from doing so by wind shear - a larger variation in wind speed over short distances which can be extremely dangerous, particularly during takeoff and landing.
The pilots aborted the landing and made a second attempt to land at Prestwick, which was also unsuccessful due to wind shear.
At this stage, the aircraft had 3,515kg of fuel remaining according to the AAIB report, and had not yet declared a fuel emergency.
The pilots made a request to divert to Manchester, as they had agreed before the flight, but at this stage the request was denied, so the plane was instead forced to divert to Edinburgh, deciding that the conditions at Glasgow Airport, separate from Glasgow Prestwick, would be too risky to attempt to land there.
Unfortunately, when the plane tried to land at Edinburgh, it had to abort the landing due to wind shear for a third time.
Mindful that policy would not allow them to make a third attempt at landing, and that they had already had two aborted attempts at Glasgow Prestwick, the crew declared a fuel emergency and again requested to divert to Manchester, declaring 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL'.
The AAIB report said that when the aircraft began its journey south to Manchester it had 2,036kg of fuel remaining. The pilots had programmed the journey to Manchester into the flight management computer, which predicted they would have around 300kg of fuel remaining.
This was 'significantly below the final reserve fuel' of 1,101kg according to the report, and also contributed to the crew declaring a fuel emergency.
This time, with an emergency confirmed, the diversion request was accepted in accordance with Manchester Airport's policy on diversions that 'declared emergencies and medical diversions will always be accepted'.
It would later be assessed that when the flight finally touched down safely at Manchester, it had just 336kg of fuel left.
The fuel consumption of a Boeing 737-800 meant that this was just minutes' worth of fuel which was left in the tanks, bringing the flight terrifyingly close to what could have been a disaster.
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport restated the airport's position in the report to LADbible, with the report saying: "Following this serious incident, Manchester Airport reiterated to stakeholders its policy of accepting diversion requests if the airport has the capacity to receive the aircraft and that the decision on accepting the diversion does not rest with the handling agent."
Manchester Airport's policy on diversions, which was also quoted in the report, said: "Aircraft diverts will be accepted if there is capacity on the ground, including the spaces available through the Manchester Airport Excess Parking Plan. Declared emergencies and medical diversions will always be accepted."
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport told LADbible that due to poor weather conditions resulting from Storm Amy prior to the initial contact from the flight, the airport had already accepted 13 diversions that day when the first request was made while the plane was circling Glasgow. Once the aircraft declared an emergency at Edinburgh, the diversion to Manchester was accepted.
LADbible has approached Ryanair for comment.
Kit Roberts