London: A British Airways flight bound for Chicago declared a general emergency over Ireland on Monday after plunging roughly 28,000 feet in minutes, then abandoned its Atlantic crossing and headed back toward London Heathrow.Flight BA295, operated by a Boeing 777-200ER registered G-VIIA, left Heathrow Terminal 5 at about 11:50 a.m. local time, around 40 minutes behind its scheduled departure, for an 8-hour-40-minute service to Chicago O’Hare.
About an hour into the flight the aircraft had climbed to a cruising altitude of around 37,000 feet. Flight-tracking data, including from Flightradar24, then showed it descending to about 9,000 feet while over Ireland and transmitting squawk 7700, the international code that tells air traffic control a crew is dealing with a general emergency and needs priority handling.
Reportedly, the jet reversed course rather than continuing west. Aviation monitors reported it was returning to Heathrow with about 30 tonnes of fuel still on board and no fuel jettison. Crew later entered a holding pattern and lowered the landing gear to burn fuel and bring the aircraft down to a safer landing weight.
As of mid-afternoon UTC the 777 was still airborne near the UK coast at about 9,000 feet, circling with the gear down. It had not yet landed.
British Airways has not confirmed the cause.
This is a developing story. Details may change as the aircraft lands and the airline or authorities comment.
