An emergency was declared just after take off on the Air Canada plane bound for Toronto on Saturday morning and it was forced to return to London Heathrow
Passengers on an Air Canada flight had to return to London Heathrow after an emergency was declared.
The emergency was called just after take off on the plane bound for Toronto on Saturday morning. Flight AC853, a Boeing 777-300ER, departed Heathrow at 8.34am before heading back.
It had reached a cruising altitude of 34,000ft and was heading over the Atlantic when the pilots on board turned the plane around, according to flight tracking data.
A 7700 emergency code was emitted from the plane at 9.30am, nearly an hour after the plane had taken off and so far it is unclear what the problem was with the flight.
When a pilot enters the four-digit emergency code 7700 into their transponder, it immediately alerts air traffic control that the aircraft is in distress and requires priority handling. The exact nature of the incident is unclear as it acts as a “catch-all” for any emergency situation that isn’t a hijacking (7500) or radio failure (7600).
So far Air Canada has not confirmed the cause of the problem which could have been issue such as a medical emergency or technical issue.
When a plane does emit a 7700 a special procedure is put in place at the airport where it is due to land which includes emergency services put on a standby.
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