One of the first planes to leave Manchester Airport yesterday, after the ban on air traffic was lifted, was aborted after the pilot smelt ash and reported an engine fault.
The Boeing 757 was a Thomas Cook flight heading to Corfu to rescue stranded holidaymakers. Flight TCX952P departed around 1am with only crew onboard.
The captain was heard describing "quite an intense smell" of volcanic ash, explaining "we got the smell of ash from about 16,000 feet in the climb".
Minutes later, when asked if he was reporting an emergency the pilot replied "negative emergency, no special handling, everything's normal it's just that we've lost one of our engine bleeds, possibly through a contaminated valve."
The flight then took a detour out over the North Sea before returning safely to Manchester Airport.
The cockpit recording can be heard on YouTube.
Photo courtesy of Andy_Mitchell_UK's photostream on flickr
