In the last half an hour, a British Airways Airbus A320 from London Heathrow to Faro has declared an emergency, holding over north-west France at 10,000 feet.
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The Airbus A320 in question operating the flight is G-EUUC, a 21 year old airframe.
Updates: British Airways Flight From London Declares Emergency…
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This is a developing story. Updates below.
UPDATE #1 @ 1836 UK time – At this stage, it is unclear what the cause of the emergency is, with the aircraft being in a hold to the east of Brest for quite some time now.
UPDATE #2 @ 1837 UK time – As per Planespotters, G-EUUC, the aircraft that is operating the flight from London to Faro, is 21.8 years old, having been delivered new to British Airways back in February 2002.
UPDATE #3 @ 1839 UK time – At this stage, it is unclear whether the aircraft will be diverting to nearby Brest, or whether it will return to London Heathrow as it is dependent on the nature of the emergency.
UPDATE #4 @ 1841 UK time – BA508 has exited its hold and is tracking north at 10,000 feet. Going back to Heathrow?
UPDATE #5 @ 1845 UK time – BA508 is now tracking north-east, which is the direction of Heathrow, where it most likely to be heading back.
UPDATE #6 @ 1853 UK time – British Airways flight BA508 is about to pass overhead Guernsey, Channel Islands at 10,000 feet, cruising at 300kts ground speed.
UPDATE #7 @ 1857 UK time – BA508 has changed its squawk from 7700 to 2044, signalling that whatever the emergency was, it is under control, but still deems a return back to London.
UPDATE #8 @ 1903 UK time – Here is an overview of the routing that British Airways flight BA508 has taken so far, which includes the several holds made to the east of Brest, France.
UPDATE #9 @ 1907 UK time – BA508 is getting closer and closer to the UK coast as the return back to Heathrow continues.
UPDATE #10 @ 1922 UK time – BA508 is beginning its descent out of FL100 as the return to Heathrow gets into its critical stages.
UPDATE #11 @ 1924 UK time – British Airways flight BA508 is on the downwind leg for the 27s at London Heathrow. Landing shortly.
UPDATE #12 @ 1927 UK time – BA508 is currently on base leg for the 27s into Heathrow.
UPDATE #13 @ 1932 UK time – BA508 is now on final approach into London Heathrow following its emergency call that has resulted in a two-hour flight from A to A instead of A to B.
UPDATE #14 @ 1938 UK time – TOUCHDOWN! Following nearly two hours in the air, British Airways flight BA508 has appeared to have landed safely into Heathrow following the emergency call over the north-west of France.
UPDATE #15 @ 1938 UK time – @followthewaterr on Twitter has managed to capture video of BA508 going over the top into Heathrow.
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