British Airways flight BA49 from London Heathrow to Seattle lands safely after it declares mid-air emergency
A British Airways flight from London to Seattle was forced to turn around after it declared a mid-air emergency.
The flight was just under two hours into an eight-hour flight to the city, in the North West of the US.
UPDATE EMERGENCY #BA49 Boeing 777 is continuing to London LHR. Live: http://t.co/mzKkQjjfiX pic.twitter.com/PVZ5nFG6RU
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) March 6, 2015
A British Airways spokesperson said the flight's pilots had encountered a "technical problem", although reports suggested there was a problem with oxygen in the cabin while it was flying over Scotland, just to the north west of Edinburgh. As it passed over the Midlands, the Boeing-777 was said to be flying at "barely 17,000ft".
Twitter users posted images of the low-flying aircraft:
@airlivenet #BA49 (Finchley) pic.twitter.com/bPjVwwJFGa
— Matthew Frost 🇪🇺🇬🇧 (@matthewf_) March 6, 2015
UPDATE EMERGENCY #BA49 has now landed at Heathrow airport. Image of final approach @AirportWebcams http://t.co/w5daB3szYD – @NewsHazbail
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) March 6, 2015
The flight was given priority to land at Heathrow on what was described as a "very busy afternoon".
A spokesperson for British Airways said:
The aircraft has landed safely. Our highly trained pilots returned to Heathrow as a precaution after a suspected technical fault. The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority.