Flight grounded in Dublin airport

Not the best of starts.

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The Republic of Ireland’s trip to San Marino has begun in farcical circumstances, with their plane forced to return to Dublin airport after 90 minutes in the air.

The pilot on the Czech Airlines flight to Rimini discovered he was unable to raise the undercarriage after taking off but could not land again immediately until a slot became available.




The passengers – including the Irish squad, Football Association of Ireland officials, media and fans – then had to wait on the runway until the fault was corrected.

It is thought a member of the ground crew failed to remove a pin from one of the wheels.

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http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/sto...44784&t=soccer

with no david o'leary on board to save the day ... it must have been touch n' go

after 90 minutes they should've been over england, why did they go back to dublin?

Hardly farcical, though is it? Routine procedure more like.

Why were the Irish National Team on a Czech Airlines flight to Rimini? Cheapskate option from the blazers??

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Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse

Why were the Irish National Team on a Czech Airlines flight to Rimini? Cheapskate option from the blazers??

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Any hopes of professionalism in the Irish setup died with Kerr.

Spot the p!$$ed-off journo... :D

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Originally Posted by RTE.ie

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After losing Stephen Carr (thigh) and Jonathan Douglas (hamstring) yesterday, Staunton's preparations for the game were further hampered by a member of the ground crew at Dublin airport.


Remarkably, that person failed to release a pin that allows the undercarriage to be raised once the plane is in flight.


The problem was naturally first discovered once the aircraft was airborne, resulting in the Czech Airlines plane being forced to return to Dublin.


The exact nature of the technical matter was only diagnosed once the plane was back on the ground, much to the frustration of all the passengers, namely the squad, FAI officials, fans and media.


It meant a delayed arrival into Rimini by two and half hours, shortly before midnight local time

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0206/carsley.html

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Ya, that is funny. More like
The exact nature of the technical matter was only diagnosed once the plane was back on the ground, much to the frustration of all the passengers, namely the squad, FAI officials, fans and media.

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

after 90 minutes they should've been over england, why did they go back to dublin?

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when i read the first post i thought that they discovered the fault as soon as they were airbourne but had to wait for 90 mins in the air until they got a landing slot

never went more than a few miles from the airport

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

after 90 minutes they should've been over england, why did they go back to dublin?

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they never got as far as england, discovered the fault and had to circle for 60mins or so to burn off fuel before they could land again

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Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse

Why were the Irish National Team on a Czech Airlines flight to Rimini? Cheapskate option from the blazers??

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Yeah this interested me too. Didn't they always used to charter from Air Lingus?