A full emergency was declared at Sumburgh Airport tonight when a Loganair flight from Aberdeen had to land on one engine.
The Saab 2000 plane landed safely at 9.45pm but passengers had to leave the aircraft while it was still on the runway surrounded by fire engines.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it was alerted at 9.20pm and immediately mobilised three appliances from Sandwick and Lerwick of which two were stood down before reaching the airport.
So far no one at Loganair has been available for comment.
However, passenger Robert McMillan said the pilot had shut down the engine on approach to Sumburgh and then circled for 20 minutes before landing.
“There was a bit of a rush to get off the plane, which was surrounded by fire engines when we got off.
“I can only assume there was some kind of engine fire or something but we were not told the reason for the engine shut down except to say a warning light had come on,” he said.
A Loganair spokesman said: “Flight BE6780 carrying 46 passengers and three crew declared a May Day shortly before landing in Sumburgh last night.
“The captain received a fire caution indication from the port-side engine, which was shut down as is standard operating procedure.
“Passengers were briefed by the crew ahead of landing and the aircraft touched down safely.
“Emergency crews met the Saab 2000 aircraft to carry out an external inspection of the engine on the runway as is procedure. No traces of fire or any other damage were found.
“Everyone on board disembarked the aircraft calmly and without incident.
“A bus was arranged to take the passenger to the terminal and our engineers are inspecting the aircraft.”