Lufthansa Flight turnback?

[iain32]

Hi,

I noticed when tracking flights that Lufthansa 472 from Dusseldorf to Toronto (A330) turned back over Scotland and returned.

Any reason for this as I saw it again later this evening but aircraft changed to A340.

Thanks

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<Any reason for this >>

Oh, I'm sure there was.........

[Capetonian]

Yes, Lufthansa regularly turn flights back, for example when a passenger realises he left a bottle of his duty free at the airport, or maybe just wanted to take a dump in a bigger toilet than the ones on board. Sometimes the airline doesn't have exactly the right blend of coffee for a fussy passenger, so they'll turn back to pick something better up, or it could just be to get a later edition of a newspaper. I'm sure you get the picture.

Also from time to time the captain decides he'd like another go at taking off, so they'll go back for that, of course it has the benefit that they get an extra practice at landing too.

[DIBO]

No, he was scared to cross the pond with just two engines. That why he tried it a second time with a 4-blaster.

(excuse the nonsense, if somebody really knows what happened, I'm just as intrested as the original poster)

[Hotel Tango]

Iain32, it is not unusual for an a/c to turn back for a tech problem which, although safe to fly with, is for logistic reasons best fixed at the home base. It may also have been a problem which prevented the a/c meeting ETOPS requirements. If it can't be fixed quickly, a spare a/c and a stand-by crew may be substituted. In this case I guess that as no A330 was spare, an A340 was positioned into DUS from FRA to resume the flight.