Beluga forced to land at Liverpool Airport after developing technical issues

An Airbus Beluga which was about to land at Broughton yesterday had to divert to Liverpool Airport after developing “technical issues.”

The giant wing transporter was scheduled to land at the Airbus factory around 1.30pm on Thursday however, the pilot reported the plane was suffering from technical issues believed to be electrical related.

Chester photographer Dale Miles captured a shot (above) of Beluga ‘5’ on the approach into Broughton but instead of landing the plane was seen circling above Flintshire as the pilot performed a holding pattern.

High winds on the ground at Broughton were adding concerns over the onboard technical issues.

Flightradar24 track of Beluga approach on Thursday.

A decision was taken to divert and land the plane at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport due to the onboard issues and high winds.

The transporter landed safely, an airport spokesperson confirmed to Deeside.com it was met by airport fire crews and emergency services who followed the plane along the runway until the all clear was given.

We were also told by one person familiar with the situation that rescue crews along the Mersey including the Coastguard, Lifeboat and a fire & rescue marine unit were all placed on standby as the plane made the approach into Liverpool Airport.

A spokesperson for Airbus said;

“As a precautionary measure one of the Belugas landed at Liverpool yesterday. The pilots reported some technical issues and due to the high winds it was decided as a precaution to land at Liverpool. It was on the ground for a short while and after completing some checks it returned safely to Toulouse.”

Only on Monday emergency services took part in large scale training exercise named ‘Neptune 2’ – it aimed to simulate an aircraft ditching into the River Mersey while on the approach to Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Flint Coastguard Rescue Team called out to rescue passengers from a sinking plane – in River Mersey exercise