Ryanair flight FR3418 nearly have ended in disaster.

It was touch-and-go at Manchester on October 3. Six minutes later and Ryanair flight FR3418 from Pisa would have ended in disaster.

Ryanair declares emergency during Storm Amy

Ryanair flight FR3418 is declaring an emergency due to low fuel after several landing attempts

6 Minutes to Empty: Inside the Ryanair Fuel Emergency That Nearly Ended in Disaster

Investigation into Ryanair emergency landing after aircraft nearly runs out of fuel

Aviation authorities and Ryanair itself have launched an investigation.

Surprised?

“Mayday, Mayday” had already been heard earlier from the cockpit of the Irish low-cost carrier for the same reason: fuel shortage. Like on July 2012 in Valencia, three times in one evening, in fact. Three aircraft, all Ryanair.

At KRO’s Reporter my collegue Marco de Lange and myself, investigated how that could happen. The two-part documentary: Mayday Mayday part 1  and Mayday Mayday part 2 (English version at bottom on pagelink) exposed how Ryanair pilots, pressured by poor working conditions and weak legal protections, made decisions they did not agree with. To save money they took less fuel than they wanted. And pilots also kept working while sick, tired, or otherwise unfit to fly.

Ten years later (2023) Zembla (BNNVARA) wanted to know whether the situation had changed or improved. That investigation led to Omerta above the clouds (link at bottom page). Watch and judge for yourself, and let’s continue to follow the investigations into the Manchester ‘near miss’ critically.