A British Airways flight from London to Prague was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing after fumes were observed in the cockpit. According to Metro, the plane took off from Heathrow Airport at 7.25 am on Sunday and was expected to land in Prague just after 10 am.
However, half an hour into the flight, it turned around over the Strait of Dover and came back to the UK, according to flight path data from FlightRadar24. The plane flew back to Heathrow and touched down at 8.41 am.
As soon as the plane landed, several fire engines rushed towards it.
A British Airways spokesperson blamed a ‘technical issue’ for the quick about-turn, though they did not specify what had caused the pilots to choose to return to Heathrow.
British Airways said in a statement: ”We’re sorry for the delay in our customers’ journey after the aircraft returned to Heathrow as a precaution. Our teams looked after them whilst they waited to board a replacement aircraft to continue their journey.”
The incident comes as the airline cancelled more than three dozen flights from Heathrow on Sunday, because of Storm Isha. Yesterday, A British Airways flight was unable to land due to the strong winds at Heathrow. The pilot was forced to take off again and recircle several times before it could land.
Data from FlightRadar24 revealed that several flights were forced to change their paths on Sunday.
British Airways said: “Like other airlines, we have had to make schedule adjustments due to the adverse weather conditions across the UK and Europe caused by Storm Isha. We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and our teams are working hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible.”