BA A380 retrun

[KelvinD]

It looks like a long day for the passengers on BA57 to Johannesburg tonight. Earlier this evening, somewhere north of Limoges, the flight squawked 770 and did a U turn, heading back to Heathrow.
A few minutes ago, just as they reached the Isle of Wight on their return to Heathrow, they have done another U turn and have begun circling over the I.o.W. (Dumpig fuel perhaps?) Little doubt who will be the last flight into Heathrow tonight!

[Wycombe]

Tracking over Hants at FL080 and 170 kts, which suggests they're not in too much of a hurry?

Not wearing 7700 either, if FR24 is to be believed.

[atakacs]

Dont know the specifics of this one but on that route a turn back above France is far from a worse case scenario...

[KelvinD]

Wycombe: It changed the squawk from 7700 to 7474 (I think. I have had a sleep since then!) as it approached the Hampshire coast. The point of my post, I suppose, was the time they were going to arrive at LHR.
It is not very often one sees an A380 squawking 7700 but there were 2 yesterday with another airline diverting into Reykjavik, presumably medical as that flight was soon back up and continuing.

[DaveReidUK]

Forced returns to LHR aren't all that unusual, there's typically about one a week.

[Wycombe]

Yep Kelvin, when I saw your post and had a look at FR24 the squawk had already been changed.

BA Source says the a/c returned due technical reasons and was delayed overnight.

Noticed that they did a good few times around the pattern at OCK before making an approach, so whatever the issue was they were probably trying to resolve it, or ensure arrival was going to be safe once they did so.

[chevvron]

Wycombe: It changed the squawk from 7700 to 7474 (I think. I have had a sleep since then!) as it approached the Hampshire coast. The point of my post, I suppose, was the time they were going to arrive at LHR.
It is not very often one sees an A380 squawking 7700 but there were 2 yesterday with another airline diverting into Reykjavik, presumably medical as that flight was soon back up and continuing.

I think it's SOP to revert to a 'normal' squawk once the nature and seriousness of the emergency has been detemined, that way it doesn't keep the D & D boys awake with the alarm ringing.
D & D boys I'm only joking; I know you're dedicated and do a good job.
Fuel dumping usually takes place over the sea at about 8 - 10 thousand so that by the time it reaches the surface, it's mostly evaporated.

[Evanelpus]

This for the spotters amongst you..............

British Airways A380 G-XLEC operating BA57 London Heathrow – Johannesburg was at 35,000 ft to the north-east of Chateauroux this evening when it turned back to London Heathrow for a safe landing due to a technical issue. The flight has been delayed overnight.

That's all.

[pax britanica]

What on earth happens to the 400 plus possible pax when they get to LHR.

Two years ago I was on a much delayed TXL LHR which got to T5 at midnight and the place was a ghost town . Must be a logistical nightmare for BA to find hotels deal with bags and rebookings -where do they get the staff for this after the airport has effectively closed/
PB

[DaveReidUK]

Must be a logistical nightmare for BA to find hotels deal with bags and rebookings - where do they get the staff for this after the airport has effectively closed

I think the fact that Ops Control had almost two hours notice, from the time it turned back over France to when it landed, would have helped.