Sunshade detaches on Malta Air flight, hits engine lever, issues urgency signal
Accident happened on a flight from Krakow to Milan's Bergamo airport
Updated Thursday 12pm
A Milan-bound plane from Poland issued an urgency signal earlier this month after a momentary engine shutdown.
However, the Malta Air flight headed to Milan’s Bergamo airport from Krakow on December 8 soon cancelled the distress call following a successful engine restart.
Poland's aviation investigation authority, Państwowa Komisja Badania Wypadków Lotniczych (PKBWL), reported that the Boeing 737 issued the PAN-PAN call following the detachment of the sunshade, which hit the engine start lever.
PAN-PAN calls are the international standard urgency signals to declare that an aircraft needs urgent help, but there is no immediate threat to life.
“After a successful engine restart, the crew cancelled the PAN-PAN call and continued the flight toward the destination, informing the relevant Air Traffic Controller of their decision,” PKBWL say on its website.
In a brief statement Thursday, Ryanair — the parent company of Malta Air — said: "As this is subject of an ongoing investigation, which we are cooperating fully with, we are unable to comment.”