British Airways flight makes emergency landing after smoke fills cabin
Passengers on a British Airways flight endured a terrifying ordeal after smoke began pouring into the cabin, forcing an emergency landing. Flight 216, a Boeing 777 traveling from Washington D.C. to London, took off from Dulles International Airport at 5.36pm on Saturday, but trouble struck less than two hours into the journey. Crew members urgently reported "a possible bird strike and fumes in the cabin," according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), prompting an immediate diversion to Boston Logan International Airport. The flight landed safely at 7.30pm, with all passengers and crew unharmed, reports the Mirror. The Massachusetts Port Authority later confirmed a bird had been struck, though it remains unclear if the aircraft suffered any significant damage. Engineers are now carrying out a full inspection of the plane. A British Airways statement said: "The flight landed safely after diverting to Boston as a precaution following a suspected bird strike. We are sorry for the delay to our customers' travel plans, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority." Passengers were later rebooked onto a new flight, departing Boston at 8.40pm and arriving in London at 6.15am on Sunday morning. Bird strikes, while relatively common, can be dangerous — especially if birds are sucked into jet engines. The FAA recorded a staggering 19,400 bird strikes across U.S. airports in 2023 alone, and more than 292,000 since 1990. Saturday's scare follows a series of high-profile bird strike incidents. In 2022, a U.S. military C-37 jet was forced into an emergency landing after hitting a flock during takeoff from Chicago Midway Airport. More recently, in October 2024, an easyJet Airbus A320 was diverted to Gatwick after a bird strike shortly after leaving Southend Airport en route to Málaga, Spain. Investigations into Saturday's incident are ongoing.
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The Independent
34 minutes ago
- The Independent
Cracked windscreen forces Delta flight to turn back to Heathrow
Passengers en route to Detroit after taking off from London Heathrow found themselves unexpectedly turning around mid-flight after the pilot discovered the plane's windscreen was cracked. Delta Air Lines flight DL17 took off from Heathrow at midday on Saturday for an eight-hour flight to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Instead of crossing the Atlantic, the 188 passengers onboard found themselves back at their departure airport just under an hour later, after the pilot found that the windscreen was cracked. The Airbus A330 never left the UK, as data from Flightradar shows the plane circling the airspace as far as Nottingham before flying back down south and into Heathrow, landing back at the airport just before 1pm. The pilot reported the fault shortly after taking off, and followed procedure by returning to the airport. Delta Air Lines told the BBC that some customers were re-booked onto flights later that day, and those who could not be offered same-day flights were given meals and accommodation. The plane is being assessed and maintenance is underway to repair the damage, the airline added. Heathrow Airport added that no other flights were affected by this last-minute diversion. It is unclear how the windscreen cracked, whether it occurred during the flight or was not noticed until after take-off. Some common causes include extreme changes in temperatures, faults in internal heating systems, and occasionally, bird strikes. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that cracks can happen across all plane models and generally, when they occur, it is on the glass pane on the outside, which serves as a protective covering for the several layers underneath. Windshields are around two to three inches thick with several layers. The FAA says cracks occur more often than passengers realise. Recently, a KLM flight carrying Queen Mathilde of Belgium was forced to make an emergency landing after a crack appeared on the cockpit's windscreen. The Queen was on an 11-hour flight from Amsterdam to San Jose in Costa Rica. A Belgian royal commentator who was also on the flight said he and the passengers did not know the windscreen was cracked until they landed. Other planes have suffered more severe damage, such as one incident in June last year, when an Austrian Airlines plane flew through a hailstorm. The plane was on its way to Vienna when an unexpected hailstorm led to the destruction of the plane's nose, windscreen and panelling. The plane managed to land safely despite the damage to the aircraft.
Metro
a day ago
- Metro
I'm an ex-flight attendant — there's unexpected protocol for medical emergencies
At 30,000 feet in the air, you really don't want to experience any kind of emergency, but these situations are usually outside our control, as Stephen Graham's story proves. The 51-year-old Adolescence star recently shared the 'scary' moment he had to have an emergency operation on a plane after urinating blood. During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Stephen explained that he had a blood clot lodged behind his urethra and a surgeon had to perform a catheter procedure right there and then on the flight, which took place in a makeshift operating area between the economy and first class cabins. According to Del Wilden, an ex-flight attendant who worked with British Airways for 26 years, major medical emergencies like this do occur on flights but are relatively rare – he only experienced two in his entire time as cabin crew. In the event that this happens, there are some little-known protocols staff have to follow and Del, a former purser (Senior Cabin Crew Manager), has revealed them to Metro, as well as the one thing most Brits don't realise about cabin crew training. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. In the event of a medical emergency, Del says cabin crew would always start by asking passengers if there was a medical professional on board, and while they were ideally seeking a doctor, nurse or paramedic, there was one other profession help could be accepted from, and it might surprise you. 'We were always told that if a medical professional didn't come forward, but a vet came forward and was prepared to help, we were allowed to accept that, he says. 'We had to get them to sign a form of indemnity before they started to help and it would usually only be if a situation was so serious it warranted help urgently.' Until someone came forward, cabin crew would provide as much first aid assistance as they could and Del claims they have much more rigorous training in this area than most Brits realise. 'Until a professional came forward, we would act accordingly. So if it was a heart attack, we'd commence CPR immediately, while another crew member would gather equipment, like a defibrillator and oxygen, and someone else would keep the captain informed of the situation.' As well as being trained in CPR, Del says he was also taught to deliver a baby, in case someone ever went into labour during a flight. If there were no experts on the flight to help, cabin crew would be able to call a company called MedLink for advice in the event of an on board medical emergency. Each plane also had its own special medical kit on board known as an M5. According to Del, half of the kit was for crew to use, while the other half was intended for professional medical use, and this is where the catheter for Stephen Graham's operation would have been found. As well as medical emergencies, Del says there are two other types of emergencies flight attendants may have to deal with – pre-planned and catastrophic. A pre-planned emergency is a situation that develops during a flight and is something that cabin crew have been prepared to respond to. They'll have protocols in place for dealing with the issue and there's usually a bit more time to handle it. An example of a pre-planned emergency might be that the plane has lost its hydraulics for landing. In a situation like this, Del said there would be an 'alert call' over the PA system from the captain, who would ask the senior cabin crew to report to the flight deck immediately. 'As crew, if you hear that during the service you would put your trolley away and go to your station (door) and await a call from the senior crew member,' he says. When the senior team member returned they would then give their crew what's called a 'NITS' breakdown for the emergency, which stands for nature, intention, time and special instructions. For the hydraulics example, the nature of the emergency would be that the plane has lost the hydraulics, the intention might be to dump some fuel and for time, the pilot might have said they have about 45 minutes until they need to land. In this situation, Del says the special instructions could be not to evacuate the plane immediately once they've landed. Following this, the next step would be for the crew to brief passengers on the situation. 'We would go out into the cabin and we'd all have various positions. The captain would do a PA announcement and tell them that there's a situation and what's happening and then they would play a pre-recorded announcement,' Del explains. More Trending 'This always starts with 'Attention, attention, this is an emergency announcement' and then it would tell passengers to follow the crew's instructions.' He adds: 'We would always go through the announcements twice, because we were taught that passengers won't really take much in the first time as they'll be a bit shell shocked, but once you play it a second time, it starts to sink in.' For a catastrophic emergency, such as a plane crash, there isn't the same amount of time to prepare, so Del says staff who are able to do so would have to act instinctively on whatever the situation is. 'If you survive whatever is happening, there's no time involved to make a plan, you basically based on your training would have to use your instincts and find a way to get passengers out of the plane. But before you open any doors, the most crucial step would be to look for fire or any other kind of danger.' Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Stephen Graham had emergency operation on a plane after 'very scary' health problem MORE: Ireland has a US border — it could help travellers nervous about Trump's America MORE: 9 UK companies that give staff a share of profits — including bonuses up to £14,000
Times
a day ago
- Times
Rolls-Royce has wowed the City — can it charm airlines too?
With the temperature gauge nearing 40C, it was a typically stifling June day in downtown Delhi last Sunday. The temperature inside the air-conditioned Taj Mahal hotel was more amenable, but Sir Tim Clark was still getting hot under the collar. The British executive, who co-founded Emirates in 1985 and has led the airline since 2003, is known for lambasting aircraft engine manufacturers — and especially Rolls-Royce. Clark has refused to take delivery of multibillion-dollar order of Airbus aircraft until a fix can be found for what he has described as the 'defective' Rolls-Royce engines that power the specific type of planes. Is it frustrating, then, that Rolls's share price is at record highs? 'Just a bit,' he responded sardonically. • Rolls-Royce reinstates dividend and announces £1bn buyback To rub salt into the wound, Rolls's chief executive, Tufan Erginbilgic, cancelled a lunch date with him at the biennial Paris Air Show next week, the 75-year-old claimed during a fringe event as Delhi hosted the annual conference of airlines trade body IATA. This allegation was later hotly disputed by the Rolls camp. Clark is not alone among airline executives in directing his ire at the Derby-based engineering giant. Bosses at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been left fuming at chronic problems with Rolls engines that have grounded planes, leading to swathes of cancellations. The situation is worse still on the other side of the Atlantic. Issues with engines built by the Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney led to a violent sell-off in Wizz Air shares last week. Bosses at the London-listed budget carrier were forced to issue a profit warning and remove forecasts amid concerns about contaminants in the powdered metal used to make its turbofan engines. Sentiment in the Square Mile towards Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, could hardly be more different. The company's shares have risen more than 800 per cent since Erginbilgic, a former BP executive, took office in January 2023. Five-year profit targets have been hit early, and investors have been showered with dividends and share buybacks. Rolls now boasts a stock market value of almost £75 billion, putting it among the five biggest companies in the FTSE 100 last week. The company's success has been built on the back of building and maintaining aircraft engines. Civil aerospace generates 51 per cent of Rolls's revenue and nearly two-thirds of its profits. So having won back the City, can it do the same with the airlines that ultimately keep it aloft? Rolls produces four main engine types: the clunkily named Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97, as well as the Trent 1000 and 7000. 'Yes, everybody who has Trent 1000s has the right to be very cross,' said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at the equity research firm Agency Partners. 'But the whole aero-engine industry is struggling with the latest generation of engines because they collectively ran up against the laws of physics — where the attempt to optimise fuel consumption, emissions and reliability ended up with them pushing the envelope too far.' The Trent 1000 is facing durability issues. 'The blades end up looking like someone with very bad teeth,' said Cunningham. 'We have been taking decisive action and moving quickly to prioritise the resources needed to reduce the impact created by the current industry wide supply chain constraints, it's the highest priority for our civil aerospace division,' Rolls said. The problem with the newer XWB — the -97 version of the engine that, so far, Emirates won't accept — is its propensity to be compromised in hot, sandy conditions such as those in the Middle East. The turbine blades are designed with tiny air-cooling holes. Inspections have found that these have become clogged up with glass, contained in sand blown into the engine, which melts and restricts airflow. A spokesman for Rolls said that Emirates had accepted the XWB-84 version of the engine on its A350-900 jets. The -97 will power A350-1000 aircraft. The interim response has been for Rolls to increase the number of engine inspections and replace parts more frequently. The company is working on a longer-term fix and could make an announcement as early as this month on progress. The increased number of inspections is one reason why BA and Virgin's jets are grounded more often. This has been compounded, across the aero-engine industry, by supply chain problems and labour issues. The roots of this can be traced back to the pandemic, which has led to planes being stuck in maintenance shops for longer. As a result, 15 per cent of the global fleet of aircraft is grounded, compared with the long-term average of 12 per cent, according to IATA. 'The single biggest challenge remains supply chain performance,' said Rob Watson, president of civil aerospace at Rolls. 'Things have improved, but there are still challenges. So that Covid impact is still washing through.' During the pandemic, engine manufacturers' complex network of suppliers had to stop production and furlough staff. Some of the suppliers failed. More recently, geopolitical events have affected access to raw materials. For example, titanium, a crucial metal in the production of engines, was almost exclusively sourced from Russia. 'We still see some fragility in our supply chain,' said Watson. 'So we've invested a lot in our forecasting capability, and we've now got an even better view of our supply chain's ability to order and deliver parts. 'We're doing a lot of work with our quality teams, making sure we've got the right quality in the supply chain and, in some cases, placing employees in supply chain organisations.' Cunningham at Agency Partners pointed out that labour shortages in maintenance workshops have put further strain on the ecosystem. 'All those old guys in the workshop that you used to see — the ones who, in the case of the American workshops, look like members of ZZ Top, and their equivalents in Europe — either got fired during Covid, or decided that it wasn't worth working the last few years of their career after being furloughed,' he said. This has left large parts of the sector with less experienced staff who are not as productive as their older predecessors. For BA, maintenance work on the Trent 1000 engines for its Boeing 787 Dreamliners means that the UK flag carrier has three to four planes grounded at any one time. Sources familiar with the situation said this will continue for the rest of 2025 at least. Such groundings put further pressure on other aircraft in BA's fleet — principally its older-generation Boeing 777 aircraft, which in turn require additional maintenance to compensate for extra flying hours. Sean Doyle, chief executive of British Airways, is thought to be waiting on Rolls to come up with a plan for 2026. BA this weekend declined to comment. • Everyone bashes it but BA is surging ahead … what's its secret? Virgin Atlantic said that aircraft availability continues to be 'slightly impacted' by the continued supply chain shortages related to Trent 1000 engines. 'We work very closely with Rolls-Royce to mitigate impact, and the reliability of our schedule is delivering strong results for our customers,' a spokeswoman said. British Airways recently gave the strongest sign yet that its patience with Rolls has run out in relation to the Trent 1000, however. BA's parent company, IAG, announced in May that an order of 32 Dreamliners would be powered by engines made by GE, Rolls's rival. Watson, Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace chief, said: 'Of course we were disappointed that IAG opted for GE on the recent Dreamliner order. But it's always our customers' choice. 'Let's not forget that at the same time the Dreamliner order didn't go our way, IAG placed a significant order of Rolls-Royce-powered Airbus aircraft [for BA's sister airlines Aer Lingus, Iberia and Level], which I think demonstrates the strong relationship we've built with IAG.' As for the Trent XWB-97 on which Clark at Emirates claims he is waiting, Erginbilgic has set aside £1 billion to find a long-term fix to legacy issues with it and other engines. 'Since he [Erginbilgic] took over from Warren East [as chief executive], he really has transformed that business,' said Clark. 'Maybe he's a little bit more confident about his engineering capabilities. But I haven't seen any 'we will give you the engine' or 'we will guarantee the engine'.' Maybe Clark will find out over their lunch later this month at the Paris Air Show. Assuming their date is still going ahead.
