Earlier tonight, a Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Las Vegas made a u-turn back to London Heathrow due to an emergency onboard the aircraft.
Information has been released pertinent to the incident at hand, with the cause identified.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Virgin Atlantic Flight VS155 – London to Las Vegas…
Virgin Atlantic flight VS155, which declared the emergency, is a routine scheduled flight between London Heathrow and Las Vegas.
Furthermore, the aircraft involved in the incident was G-VZIG.
As per data from Planespotters.net, G-VZIG is a 9.8 year old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that was delivered to the airline in March 2015.
Of the 787-9 Dreamliner variant, Virgin Atlantic has 17 of them in their fleet.
Moreover, of the 17, all but one are in active service, with an average fleet age of 8.8 years.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS155, which declared the emergency, departed London Heathrow at 1632 local time this afternoon, bound for Las Vegas.
Before the Atlantic Ocean Crossing, to the West of Scotland, the aircraft made a u-turn and declared the emergency via the 7700 squawk code.
From there, the decision was made to return to Heathrow Airport, it’s main base of operations.
After a few hours in-flight, the aircraft landed safely back into Heathrow Airport without further incident.
Engine Issue Was The Cause of the Emergency…
As per @FlightEmergency on X, it is understood that the reason for the emergency onboard Virgin Atlantic flight VS155 London-Las Vegas was due to an engine problem.
Furthermore, it isn’t clear what the nature of the problem with the engine is.
Based on ADS-B data, the aircraft only made a slow descent to a slightly lower altitude whilst in the air.
As soon as we have more information pertinent to the engine problem itself, then we will update you accordingly.
It could be a range of problems, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate an overall failure at this time.
As per the standards for Virgin Atlantic, the aircraft returning to London Heathrow rather than continuing to Las Vegas is so then the aircraft can be fixed quicker.
This remains a developing story.
Further updates to follow in due course.
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