Ryanair flight makes emergency landing after pilot fell ill sparking red alert

A Ryanair plane had to make an emergency landing in the Algarve after the ‘pilot fell ill’.

The aircraft was heading from London Gatwick to Morocco but ended up landing in Faro, Portugal this morning, according to local reports.

Portuguese paper Correio da Manha said the pilot had told passengers before landing that he wasn’t feeling well and the diversion triggered a ‘red alert’ at the airport.

It was not immediately clear if the pilot had landed the plane or handed it over to his co-pilot and whether he had stayed on the aircraft after reaching Faro or been taken to hospital.

The 18 passengers on board were forced to wait at the Algarve airport to take off again.

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Ryanair about the situation.

Earlier this week, the budget airline made news after they found ‘fake parts’ in their aircraft engines.

Scheduled maintenance checks carried out on one plane in Texas, USA, and another in Brazil led to the discovery of the parts, believed to have come from London firm AOG Technics.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, said the unauthorised parts have now been removed.

It comes after aviation regulators accused AOG in October of supplying thousands of engine parts with forged safety certificates to airlines around the world.

Ryanair has become the latest carrier embroiled in the scandal after American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines confirmed it had also found suspect parts.

Airbus 320s and Boeing models, including older-generation 737s in use at Ryanair, are said to be among those affected.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.