United Airlines 777 UA885 Rome-Washington Declares Emergency

United Airlines flight UA885 bound for Washington has declared an emergency and is returning to Rome.

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United UA885 Rome-Washington Return to Rome FCO Flight Details Update

United Airlines flight UA885, a Boeing 777 bound for Washington Dulles (IAD), declared the emergency with squawk code 7700 shortly after departure from Rome.

United UA885 Rome-Washington

Flight track of United flight UA885 Rome to Washington, showing return to Rome FCO.

The flight has remained in the Rome region, maintaining a hold at 3,500 feet. The nature of the problem is not yet clear.

Return to Rome FCO

Having exited the holding procedure, flight UA885 is now passing through 200 feet on approach for its return to Rome International Airport.

Flight Details

Flight data shows the Washington-bound service made a delayed departure from Rome–Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino International Airport this morning. The flight departed FCO at 11:20 local off a scheduled departure time of 10:20 local.

Furthermore, the aircraft terminated its climb at approximately 3,500 feet before squawking code 7700 at 11:28 local (09:28UTC).

After a short holding period off the coast, the flight expedited a return to the departure airport.

Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The aircraft conducting this morning’s aborted long haul service is a Boeing 777-222ER, registered N209UA. This is a 24 year old widebody aircraft belonging to US carrier United Airlines.

Furthermore, the aircraft has been in service with the airline since its initial delivery in December 1999.

The nature of this morning’s emergency remains unclear; however the flight declared the emergency just 8 minutes after departure.

Also, United Airlines typically supports long-haul flights from Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to various destinations in the United States, including Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).

Update

From the account Flight Emergency @FlightEmergency: The cause of this morning’s early return to FCO by United flight UA885 was an engine surge experienced during the climb after take off.