On 22 December, an incident took place in the Tallinn Airport, when a Ryanair's Boeing 737 that was on its way from Milan to Tallinn, landed dangerously close to a Flybe aircraft. Ryanair did not have the final landing permit and when it descended to the landing strip, a Flybe plane was still there. Ryanair's plane almost landed, and then took off again. There was no collision. After a repeat flight round, the plane landed safely on the runway.
Flight Control Department Manager Üllar Salumäe said in an interview with TV3 that the Ryanair pilot would have had to make a repeat flight round before starting the descent. In this case, the Ryanair pilot could have made the decision to make a repeat lap at the time of descent.
Contrary to widespread rumours in social media, as if it was a very serious situation, Salumäe confirmed that even if Ryanair's plane had managed to land in the first attempt, it would not have led to tragic consequences.
Aviation Board spokeswoman Riina Muld told Postimees that the agency is aware of the incident, but a separate investigation is unlikely, because it was not such a dangerous situation. "The Aviation Board is aware of the incident. This information is used in the safety analysis and further supervision activities. There will be no separate investigation," said Muld.
Safety Investigations Centre also said this was not a case that needed their investigation.
Salumäe said that the Estonian Air Traffic Control Service launched an internal investigation into what happened.
