An Icelandair 757 was forced to make an emergency landing in Norway after crew had to shut down the engine. The flight was operating between Copenhagen and Iceland on the 9th June but had to be diverted to Stavanger for an emergency landing when the plane ran into trouble.
What happened?
According to the Aviation Herald, the Icelandair 757-200 was operating flight FI-209 from Copenhagen in Denmark to Keflavik in Iceland when the incident occurred. The aircraft, registration TF-FIK had 184 people on board and had left CPH pretty much on time to make the three hour journey to Keflavik airport.
The aircraft was traveling at FL380 around 30nm to the northwest of Stavanger in Norway when the crew had to shut down one of the engines. The aircraft descended and turned back towards Stavanger for an emergency landing.
Thankfully, the aircraft landed safely in Norway around 25 minutes later. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows the aircraft still on the ground at Stavanger now, two days later.
Emergency services responded
As a precaution, emergency services were scrambled to respond to the stricken airliner. HRS Sør-Norgeâ€, the local air and sea rescue center, tweeted an update, which read:
1845: Icelandair on the way from Copenhagen to Reykjavik conducted controlled emergency landing at Sola Airport. Emergency services and emergency service notified and put on standby.
Thankfully they weren’t needed, but the aircraft’s arrival at the airport must have been quite dramatic for the passengers. One passenger tweeted a photograph of their reception on the tarmac.
Others just wanted more refreshments from Icelandair!
Icelandair’s 757-200s
Icelandair have more 757-200s in their fleet than any other type. They operate a total of 25 of the planes, complemented by a handful of 767-300ERs, two 757-300s and five 737 MAX aircraft, which are currently grounded.
The airline has been in talks with Boeing and Airbus for a suitable replacement for the 757. It is thought that the grounding of the 737 MAX has forced them to continue using aircraft which would have otherwise been retired. According to Airfleets, Icelandair’s 757s have an average age of 22.9 years.
TF-FIK was acquired by Icelandair in 2015 and is named Bláfjall, Icelandic for Blue Mountain, which is a table mountain in the North of Iceland.