A Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles to London has declared an emergency whilst inbound approaching the British Isles.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS8, an Airbus A350 operating the transatlantic route from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to London Heathrow (LHR) declared the emergency whilst in transit over Ireland.
Virgin Atlantic VS8 Los Angeles – London
The flight declared the general emergency with squawk code 7700 whilst in the cruise at FL350 (35,000 feet) and continues to proceed on track for the destination London Heathrow.
Update 10:50 UTC
Having declared the emergency at 10:20 UTC whilst inbound, Virgin Atlantic flight VS8 is continuing on track for LHR, maintaining cruising level FL350.
Expected weather for the aircraft’s arrival into the main London hub is Visual Meteorological Conditions (VFR) with 10 kilometres visibility and scattered cloud.
The flight is maintaining transponder code 7700, and the nature of the emergency is not known at this time.
Data for today’s transatlantic VS8 service shows that the flight made a slightly delayed departure out of Los Angeles LAX at 18:31 local time, off a scheduled departure time of 18:00 PST.
The flight then proceeded normally, making the Atlantic crossing before declaring the emergency near Ireland whilst inbound.
The service is being operated by Airbus A350 registered G-VTEA; a three year old widebody belonging to the carrier Virgin Atlantic.
Update 11:00 UTC
VS8 on descent and now passing through 10,000 feet as it approaches London. As the aircraft sets up for its approach to RWY27, the flight has reverted to a normal transponder code.
Update 11:15 UTC
With the aircraft in the final stages of approach, it is understood from the source Flight Emergency that today’s emergency was a medical issue onboard the flight.
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