Plane heading to the UK had to made an unscheduled stop after a bungling airport worker 'left his headphones attached to the front landing gear'

Published: 01:13, 7 June 2026 | Updated: 01:27, 7 June 2026 A plane heading to the UK had to make an unscheduled stop after a bungling airport worker 'left his headphones attached to the front landing gear.' TAP flight TP2678 from Lisbon to London Heathrow ended up being diverted to Porto because of a 'strange noise'. The pilot is said to have decided to reroute around the same time an aircraft preparing to touch down at Humberto Delgado Airport four miles north-east of Lisbon's city centre was told to abort his landing after the headphones gaffe was discovered. Former TAP pilot and aviation author Jose Correia Guedes wrote on X: 'In the early hours of yesterday (FRI JUNE 5) morning, a TAP flight preparing to land on runway 02 at Lisbon Airport was instructed to 'go around' by the Control Tower. 'Why? The ramp officer servicing a TAP Airbus A321 that had just taken off for London had forgotten the headphones plugged into the aircraft's nose gear. 'An immediate runway inspection was carried out to see if the headphones had fallen off, but nothing was found. 'Meanwhile, the pilots of the Airbus A321 flying to London started hearing a 'weird' noise and decided to land in Porto as a precaution. 'Upon arrival, there were the headphones (or what was left of them) still hanging on. Pictured: A TAP Air Portugal A320 taxiing before takeoff in Madrid (File image) 'Next up: a visit to the boss for the ramp officer. I recommend wearing some protective headphones because the noise is going to be intense.' In a second post late last night he published a photo of the headphones cable, joking: 'Ladies and gentlemen, here are the mortal remains of the fantastic headphones (headsets) that flew dangling from a TAP Airbus between Lisbon and Porto. 'During takeoff, some passengers in the back rows felt 'thumps' on the outside and alerted the crew, which led to the landing in Porto out of precaution. 'There were the mortal remains of the headphones still clinging to the plane. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me the brand of this remarkably resistant equipment. It would make for a great marketing campaign.' One social media user responded to the ex-pilot's posts by saying: 'Darn, this is a glaringly bright orange that's impossible to forget.' Another said: 'This is probably an ESMP-1 extension..100 euros. The question: how could you forget a thing like this?' TAP admitted Flight TP2678, which took off at 4.30am local time yesterday, had diverted to Porto as a precaution for a 'technical inspection.' It said: 'The process took place in an environment of complete calm and safety and the flight then continued its journey to its final destination.' In April Jet2 passengers on board a flight from Bournemouth to Gran Canaria were diverted to Faro on the Algarve over 'smoke in the cabin.' The cadet triggered a 'red code alert' at Faro Airport with emergency response vehicles being mobilised although the plane landed safely. Local sources said at the time the diversion was due to 'smoke in the cabin.' A Jet2 spokesperson said after the incident: 'Our highly trained crew operating flight LS3643 from Bournemouth to Gran Canaria elected to divert to Faro as a precautionary measure after an aroma was detected in the cabin. 'At no point was safety compromised whatsoever, and the aircraft landed safely. A standby aircraft will fly customers from Faro to Gran Canaria, and we would of course like to sincerely apologise to customers for this delay.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.