Ryanair Jet (Photo : Ryanair)
Ryanair Flight 448 left Dublin on Wednesday but did not land at the Liverpool John Lennon Airport as scheduled. The pilot was ordered by the airport authorities to do a go-around just before landing.
The reason, according to passengers who cited what the pilot told them, was because of a suspected drone in the sky which could endanger the Boeing 737's landing, reports Mirror. The pilot had to circle back over Wirral before it finally landed safely at 10:47 p.m.
The go-around around was a standard safety procedure after the airport authorities perform visual checks and radar checks, according to the Liverpool Echo. The procedure is part of safety guidelines issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority which in July warned a pilot of possible prosecution after the wing of the Airbus A320 he was flying passed 6 meters below a drone hovering at Heathrow Airport.
Reports said that routine checks by airport skywatchers found something in the sky, but when further checks were made, they found nothing, according to the gateway's spokesman. However, there are speculations what they saw was a UFO flying over River Mersey.
"They sent somebody down there but they couldn't see anything. It can be things like a flock of birds, but we always play safe in these situations and will investigate," said airport spokesman Robin Tudor.
This is the second time this week that a Ryanair flight had a near miss with an alleged UFO. On Sunday, a Ryanair Boeing 737 jumbo jet narrowly missed hitting an alleged UFO while the plane was on its way to Spain. The traveler filmed the encounter from the plane window.
The video below was then posted on YouTube by the Lions Ground UFO group. The female passenger said the plane's pilot tried to avoid the UFO which appeared to be a small black object that shot at high speed within inches past the jet's wing, reports Express.
