Did anyone else see the news stories this morning about a Ryanair flight that diverted to Bordeaux due to an emergency?
The only reason I noticed this one is because I woke up this morning to a bunch of phone alerts about it. The original story said simply "mid-air emergency" and that the aircraft "flew a loop" as it was approaching Bordeaux. Naturally, the idea of a commercial airliner flying a loop had me suddenly wide awake, wondering if the airframe and its passengers all survived it intact. What likely happened is that some journalism intern doesn't know how to interpret a flight tracker website and interpreted the plane's course changes to align to a runway as flying a loop.
All of the online versions of the article that I can find right now simply state that it was a minor medical situation. No mention of extreme aerobatics.
Anyone else get these phone alerts? Google knows I follow aviation news...that's why I get them.
On the positive side, I did find all sorts of online articles speculating about whether airliners can fly loops, barrel-rolls, and other aerobatic tricks without structural damage. (General consensus is "no".) A test pilot successfully barrel-rolled a 707, so there's that.