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A British Airways passenger plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing within minutes of taking off from Heathrow.
Domestic flight BA1340 to Leeds Bradford Airport had to turn around as the captain requested a priority landing at the west London airport, following a “technical issue” on Sunday.
A “squawk 7700”message – for general aviation emergencies – was sent out by the pilots, according to @FlightEmergency, which alerts traffic control.
The Airbus A319 needed to circle above Chesham in Buckinghamshire before landing back at Heathrow around 30 minutes later.
The flight's looped path returning to London Heathrow shortly after take off (Flight Radar) The aircraft is reported to have landed safely on runway 27 at Heathrow just before 9am.
Show all 22 1 /22In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside one of the terminal tents in 1946 The year the airport opened. Comfortable armchairs and flowers try to distract from the conditions
Graham Bridges collection
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow An aerial view of the airport in 1949 Construction of the runway layout and Central Area are under way
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A Pan Am crew checks out the Boeing Stratocruiser N1029V Clipper Golden Eagle in 1954 During the early 1950s, Pan Am and American Overseas Airlines operated Statocruisers into London Airport in direct competition on the North Atlantic route operated by BOAC
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow One of the first official London Airport guidebooks C.1953, priced 1s
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In 1950 a permanent concrete terminal building was built This replaced the tents previously used at London Airport North and is seen still in use for charter and cargo flights in this 1959 view
via Graham Bridges
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow BOAC check-in desk in 1954 Inside the new London Airport North terminal building, just before the move to the Central Area
Graham Bridges collection
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Air traffic control tower in the 1960s Inside the visual control room
CAA Archives via Pete Bish
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Rear cover of the 1956 guidebook Showing a plan of the airport at the time, with entrance prices to the spectators’ viewing terraces and for airport coach tours
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Spectators in 1958 How close can you get? As soon as the Central Area was open, spectators were afforded unprecedented views of the airliners
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Terminal 3 was opened as the Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961 It was built to handle flight departures for long-haul routes. Renamed Terminal 3 in 1968, it was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside Terminal 3 in 1969 Check-in desks for BOAC and QANTAS airlines
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Plane spotting on Heathrow’s viewing terraces in the 1960s Wrap up warm, take your spotting logbooks, pen and binoculars and get your mum to pack your sandwiches
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow No 1 Passenger Building Also called the Europa Building. In this photo, taken on 22 June 1963, flags of the many airlines it serves are flown
Lee Holden
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Luggage-trailer-towing Routemaster buses When BEA and BOAC merged to form BA on 1 April 1974, both fleets had to be repainted in the new livery, but so did all the ground support equipment
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The entrance to the traffic tunnel in 1974 A Lufthansa Boeing 737 is seen on the runway
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A 40 per cent scale model of Concorde In September 1990 it was erected on the roundabout at the entrance to the tunnel that passes under the northern runway at Heathrow Airport. It was built in four main parts, with an 80ft-long central fuselage section, to which the wings and tail fin were attached. The completed model was placed on the roundabout in September 1990 and was monitored by CCTV and surrounded by an infrared perimeter alarm that was connected to the local Heathrow police station to ensure it was not vandalised
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Heathrow Airport's 50th anniversary On 2 June 1996, Heathrow marked its anniversary with a flypast of representative airliner types that have served the airport over the years. This culminated in a formation flypast by Concorde with Hawks of the RAF Red Arrows aerobatic team
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The roof of Terminal 3’s car park One of the last bastions for plane spotters and spectators was here. This is the unfriendly notice that greets anyone who attempts this today
Richard Vandervord
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow On 24 October 2003 BA withdrew its Concordes from service The final scheduled commercial flight was BA002 from JFK operated by G-BOAG. Here we see three of the Concordes parked together outside the BA hangar on 8 November 2003 following withdrawal
John Hughes
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new control tower Costing £50 million to construct, it gives controllers an excellent 360-degree panoramic view
NATS photograph
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new Terminal 2 The Queen’s Terminal
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Looking due west down Runway 27L
FlightRadar, an aviation tracking website, described the flight as being cancelled and shows the looped route the aircraft took.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “The aircraft landed safely at Heathrow after the pilot requested a priority landing for a minor technical issue.
"We would never compromise on the safety and security of our customers and crew."
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