A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner heading to India with as many as 214 passengers onboard was forced to jettison fuel and divert back to London Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon after a midair technical problem was detected.
Technical specs:
- Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
- Manufactured in 2014
- Serial number: 38614
- Registration: G-ZBJG
- Range: 7,305 nautical miles
- Engines: 2 x Rolls-Royce Trent 1000
British Airways flight BA35 to Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu departed London Heathrow more than 30 minutes late on June 15, taking off at around 1:15 pm and climbing to 15,000 feet before the pilots told the passengers there was a potential issue with the 11-year-old plane.
The aircraft, which is the same make and model as the Air India plane that crashed just seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, then entered a holding pattern, initially over Kent and then off the south coast, as the pilots dumped fuel.
Passengers had an agonizing wait to see if the aircraft would land safely as they initially looped over the skies of Kent four times, before heading off-shore and looping round a further seven times before eventually heading back to Heathrow.
A passenger onboard the aircraft, known only as Ravi, shared a video of fuel being dumped from the aircraft. Ravi said in a post on X that the pilots had informed them of an issue with the flaps.
What do the aircraft flaps do?
The flaps form part of the wings of an aircraft and are normally located on the trailing edge (at the back of the wing). They extend out of the main wing structure and are primarily used during take-off and landing when an aircraft is moving slower in order to create additional lift.
After dumping a significant amount of fuel, the plane headed back to London Heathrow, where it landed safely, and the passengers were allowed to disembark as normal.
A spokesperson for British Airways noted: “The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue. The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would, and our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”
Reality check
Whenever there is a serious aircraft accident, there is an increased awareness of other incidents, especially when it involves the same aircraft type.
Some so-called experts have tried to link the tragic crash of Air India flight AI-171 with the flap settings that they have ascertained from a video of the accident.
However, it’s incredibly important to note that any theories currently circulating on the internet are nothing but speculation, and it is far too early to say what may have caused the accident.
While it is human nature to want to fill information voids, the investigation will take time, and answers might not be readily available at all.
No doubt investigators and regulators are conscious of the fact that people are desperate to know what happened, and if any urgent safety concerns crop up during the investigation, these will be communicated to Boeing 787 operators as soon as possible.
Matt’s take
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been and continues to be an incredibly safe aircraft despite how awful the events of June 12 were. Indian accident investigators are being assisted by experts from several countries, including the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Thankfully, the Black Boxes (the flight data and cockpit voice recorders) have been recovered and these will give the investigation team a vast trove of information to help them get to the bottom of what happened.
