Red plane on Flightradar24 over Manchester.

[Cheeseandlobster]

Are there any fellow Flightradar geeks on here? There is a red tui plane over Manchester right now squaking. Any idea why?

I can see it too. What does red mean?

It's been reported by the Express as having an onboard emergency. Looks like it has been circling for a good hour or so. It must be very frightening on board right now. I hope it lands safely

It’s doing loops too

The one to Boa Vista thats circling over the Peak District?

It means it's squawking which is an emergency call

Yes, that’s the one

I don't think we'll ever know CandL.... it's now in a holding pattern just SE of the airport. They are probably clearing the runway to allow it to land back at Manchester again.

Yes this one

Do they circle to burn off as much fuel as possible and to allow time for ATC to find a suitable landing slot?

At that altitude wonder if it's a cabin pressure issue?

it could be burning fuel before landing again. Hopefully everyone is ok.

Oh God, hope everyone's ok.

Shit, it's been circling for 1.43 hours and it will have a lot of fuel on board if its going to Cape Verde. Thoughts to everyone on board, whatever the emergency is it will be horrible to be stuck there.

Aside Flight radar is doing wonders for my world geography

It departed 1 hour 45 mins ago by the looks of it. I wonder why they haven't landed it somewhere else.

It must be a problem with the plane. If it was say a medical emergency then they would land ASAP. Its the trying to burn fuel that is scary and the fact that its circling over a relatively unpopulated area

More expert people... Will they try to land at Manchester or head somewhere more quiet?

Worrying. How scary for those on board.

Looks like it got as far as Wrexham then turned back

My first thought is that it’s dumping fuel. It’s 6 hours to Boa Vista so they would’ve been carrying a lot of fuel and it’s not safe to land whilst fuelled heavily.

But I wonder what the emergency is. It’s not a life or death medical one - they would’ve gone over to the Irish Sea and dumped most of the fuel in one go, then landed. Doesn’t make sense to circle over England and dump fuel slowly over a field.

They’ve been in the air almost 2 hours now - could be a technical failure which means something needed for landing is not working? Could be landing gear getting stuck or flaps malfunctioning. From the pattern on FR24, it was detected shortly after take off, which is when both those elements get retracted…? They could be holding whilst trying to resolve it. What a mystery.

Cheese is that always the case with a medical emergency. I thought burning fuel was a normal response as landing with a tank full was dangerous?

Someone on Twitter saying this (no idea if accurate)

It's squawking 7700, so definitely an emergency. I don't think it's burning fuel as the 767 is equipped with a fuel dump valve. Most likely the pilots are trying to stabilise the problem before going back to the airport. My guess is some sort of hydraulic problem.

TUI had a problem with one of their Manchester flights last week. Flight took off, there was a smell of burning and so it circled for a while and landed. Perhaps a similar issue or concern with the same aircraft?

Airlines always err on the side of caution (DH used to work in tech maintenance) so very unlikely to be anything serious in the life threatening sense. Still, my thoughts are with any anxious fliers on board!

Oh I actually didn't know that. I mean I did for high risk landings where something is wrong with the plane but not for more standard landings. I guess I was thinking of planes that fly say to Greece then come back. They must refuel before coming back then. I feel a bit silly now 🙃

www.manchesterworld.uk/news/drama-as-tui-flight-from-manchester-airport-is-hit-with-massive-delays-and-an-emergency-landing-3746147

Last week's emergency landing

If it's a squawk 7700 they'll be running through a checklist. And if they're circling it means there's an issue but not necessarily a dire emergency.

From a pilot who wrote an article about this on FlightRadar:

What is the one thing you would want passengers or people tracking a flight to know about aircraft emergencies?
Ninety-nine percent of the “emergencies” observed on websites like FlightRadar24 are very benign events. Unfortunately, Twitter seems to go nuts when an aircraft squawks 7700. “Emergency” doesn’t necessarily mean passengers and crew are in a life and death struggle worthy of the evening news. Most of the time, the crew is using an abundance of caution and letting ATC know that they are working with an abnormal situation.