Ryanair flight to Dublin prompts emergency guard after failing to make contact with airport

A Ryanair flight from the UK appeared to lose contact with Dublin Approach on Monday evening, prompting an emergency guard call.

The commercial Ryanair flight from Liverpool to Dublin experienced a technical issue when entering Irish airspace, but managed to regain contact and safely land.

Irish aviation journalist Shaun Dunne (Shaun's Aviation) alerted followers on Twitter of the incident. According to Dunne, following the handover from the Irish Sea Air Traffic Control (ATC) to Dublin Approach ATC, the Ryanair pilot's communications were abruptly cut off and contact was not possible. For a short period of time, the pilot and Dublin Approach ATC were not in communication.

⚠️ Incident#FR443 / #RYR22BV has appeared to lose contact with Dublin Approach.

They lost contact during handover and after a few minutes trying to gain contact, Dublin ATC have put a call out on Guard (emergency frequency) to no avail.

Update to follow.#aviation #avgeek pic.twitter.com/4DWj95rDCF

— Shauns_Aviation✈️ (@Shauns_Aviation) April 22, 2024

After a minute or two of ATC trying to reach out to the pilot in question, a call was put out to be 'on Guard', the emergency frequency that all planes monitor for distress messages. ATC were heard on Monday evening making the call, saying “This is Dublin Tower calling on Guard, can Ryanair 2 2 Bravo Victor, please contact Dublin Approach on 121.1”

After about a minute or two, the Ryanair aircraft was once again able to contact ATC, and it was started that they had an "issue with the frequency". Normal contact resumed after this, and the flight thankfully landed safely.

It's possible that the pilot may have been on the wrong frequency, and there may be an investigative process by either Ryanair or AirNav Ireland before a full explanation is revealed.

Ryanair and AirNav Ireland have been contacted for further information.