A French Navy Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft made an emergency diversion to Cork on Friday 26th May after declaring a pan pan call due to smoke on board over the ocean. The city’s emergency response plan was briefly activated but the big Atlantique made a safe landing and was parked on stand 20. The crew said there was no fire and requested that the Airport Police and Fire service not inspect the aircraft. A pan pan call is used to denote that help is needed but there is no immediate danger. Eighteen naval crew were on board.
The following day a French Navy EMB 121 Xingu brought a maintenance team from their base at Lorient / Lann-Bihoué. It left after an hour and the Atlantique departed for base on Saturday afternoon. The only disruption to airline services at Cork was a delay of seven minutes to a Ryanair flight to Manchester while the Atlantique landed.
The original Breguet Br.1150 was a late fifties design for a NATO maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. Named Atlantic – as in English – eighty-seven were built for France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and Pakistan. By the eighties, a major redesign was needed. France alone bought 28 under the name Atlantique 2 – as in French. Eighteen of these are currently being further upgraded to remain in service for another decade.
