Heathrow flight makes unscheduled U-turn after ‘technical issue’

The flight crew transmitted a squawk 7700 code, known as the signal for a general emergency

The Lufthansa Airbus A320 had departed Heathrow just 23 minutes earlier (Getty Images)

A Lufthansa flight to Germany was forced to return to London after pilots detected a technical issue.

The Airbus A320 had departed Heathrow at 11.55 on Thursday.

At 12.18pm, just 23 minutes later, crew on Flight LH2473 transmitted a squawk 7700 code, known as the signal for a general emergency.

According to data from FlightAware, the Munich-bound flight performed a loop over London after being forced to divert to its departure airport.

The aircraft was at an altitude of around 14,000 feet when the crew sounded the alert.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa told The Independent that the flight “had to return due to technical reasons”.

It’s not the first aircraft to be diverted due to a technical issue this month.

One of Air Canada’s longest flights landed a lot earlier than expected after the plane was diverted due to a strange smell being detected on board.

Flight AC40 was due to take off from Auckland, New Zealand, at 2pm local time on Tuesday, 13 January for a 12 and a half hour flight to Vancouver, Canada, one of Air Canada’s longest routes.

Just seven minutes into the flight, the pilots reported an “unusual odour” in the cockpit and declared an emergency.

An Air Canada spokesperson told Simple Flying that the flight returned to Auckland out of an abundance of caution after the odour was detected by the pilots.

“The aircraft landed normally and has been taken offline for an inspection by maintenance and technical professionals. We are making arrangements for passengers to be rebooked to their final destination,” the airline said in January.

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