'Serious incident' on TUI plane carrying nearly 200 people above Manchester Airport

A 'serious incident' on a plane above Manchester Airport left nearly 200 people on board at risk of a potentially fatal condition. The aircraft had been en route to Kos Airport in Greece after departing from Manchester Airport at 6.06am on October 17 2023.

But just a few minutes after the Boeing 737-8K5 took off a cabin altitude warning reported that there was a "serious incident" on board, according to a report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. This detailed that two crucial systems on board were not switched on.

These were the engine bleed systems. The result was that the cabin had not pressurised upon takeoff.

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The report said: "Both engine bleed air systems had been inadvertently left off for the departure, so the aircraft failed to pressurise." Crew members then switched the systems back on.

The systems had been switched off by maintenance workers for routine work on the aircraft, but had not been reactivated. After switching them back it was believed the problem was solved, but the crew encountered another problem.

This was that the loss of pressure could cause "hypoxic exposure". The report said: "However, in this altitude window, the hypoxic exposure can be sufficient to affect cognitive performance and decision-making to the point where the decline would be observable in cognitive tests.

"In this range of altitudes there are many variables that affect the severity and impact of hypoxia, including duration of exposure, rate of hypoxia onset (eg rate of climb if no pressurisation), physical workload, fatigue, individual responses and type of task being performed.

"In this range of altitudes it is also difficult to separate the relative contribution of hypoxia versus other performance degraders such as fatigue, distraction or other human performance issues."

The report adds: "Though the commander did not believe fatigue was a factor in this event, the analysis of his roster over the eight weeks preceding the event and the rest period immediately before it suggest that fatigue could still have been a contributory factor.

"It should be noted that fatigue, particularly chronic fatigue, can be insidious such that an individual may not recognise the symptoms in themselves."

The plane was able to land safely. However just three days later it was involved in a separate incident involving a "catastrophic failure" while landing at Leeds Bradford Airport.

This meant that the aircraft left the runway while it was landing at Leeds Bradford after suffering damage during Storm Babet. An investigation by AAIB found that the nosewheel had suffered a "catastrophic failure", with the aircraft sustaining minor damage in the second incident, though fortunately there were no injuries.

Dramatic images showed the aircraft having left the runway and not resting on its landing gear. Debris and turf have been ripped up as it skidded along.