Kuwait Airlines Turns Around

[MarcJF]

Breaking news on Sky, looks like it's coming into Heathrow, not nearest airport?

[PC767]

If nothing else it's interesting. It came into LHR without an emergency transponder code and according to FR24 it was over Frankfurt when it turned back.

Wrong airport for a hijack, lots of suitable places to land for an emergency. Do Kuwait have an engineering base in LHR? Most likely explanation. (For now at least.)

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Spot on PC id say. STN and PIK are designators in the UK for hostile flights. This is all off the back of the attacks yesterday. Every in flight emergency will be a "threat" for the next few weeks !!!

[pull-up-terrain]

Supposedly the plane has 6 passengers who have fell ill from food poisoning.

[boeingbus2002]

Medical emergency. Nothing hostile.

[boeingbus2002]

One pax too.

[crewmeal]

If it had been anything major then it would have been diverted to Stansted where the authorities are always on the ready.

[Wanabee,Gunnabee,Am]

But why London, why not Frankfurt, or Zurich, or Munich or.........

Why fly an hour and a half back the way you came.

Also looks like United from BRU to Chicago (UA973) is in the process of diverting too. Heading south over York, maybe towards STN???

Is there something going on that the authorities are covering up?? Armed forces day and all that!!!!

[maggot738]

UA973 is over Watford so looks like he's heading into Heathrow

[Twiglet1]

As the NHS is free? ......

[GAPSTER]

Senior First Officer????
Really!!!!

[brakedwell]

Somebody forgot to reclaim their VAT

[OPENDOOR]

UA973 now at Heathrow. Two flights, coincidence?

[Wanabee,Gunnabee,Am]

GAPSTER

Senior First Officer????
Really!!!!

and your point is?

[Trossie]

Is there something going on that the authorities are covering up??

Oh boy!! Where do they come from? Let's see what cr@p the conspiracy theorists come up with next!

Twiglet & brakedwell, nice ones!

[Hotel Tango]

For goodness sake! Dozens of aircraft divert every day for one reason or another. Most are medical diversions. Some are technical but not to the extent that they have to divert to the nearest airport. Technical problems can be of a nature which, for a variety of reasons already explained many times on these forums, requires the aircraft to return to it's base airport, departure airport or an airport where they have engineers and spares at hand.

[Wanabee,Gunnabee,Am]

Neither conspiracy theorist nor ostrich. One sentence does not make someone either.

Hotel Tango
For goodness sake! Dozens of aircraft divert every day for one reason or another. Most are medical diversions. Some are technical but not to the extent that they have to divert to the nearest airport. Technical problems can be of a nature which, for a variety of reasons already explained many times on these forums, requires the aircraft to return to it's base airport, departure airport or an airport where they have engineers and spares at hand.

But aren't we talking about a medical emergency here, not a base airport, departure airport, or an airport where they need engineers or spares. It also appears that Kuwait Airlines flys to and from FRA anyway. I only asked why London, and is what rhetorical, as I'm sure that you, nor anyone on here, doesn't have the answer.

[GT3]

Perhaps Kuwaiti had a crew ready to fly the aircraft onwards to Kuwait today from LHR? A divert may have put the original crew out of hours, sensible to divert to an airport that has the same type operating there?

[Hotel Tango]

But aren't we talking about a medical emergency here

Sure, but there are also different types and levels of medical emergencies. There may have been a doctor (or doctors) on board who will have kept the captain informed. Subject to that information he (together with OPS) will have taken a decision which on balance best served all concerned.