British Airways flight BA295 returned to Heathrow on Monday after a sudden descent over Ireland triggered an emergency response on board the Chicago-bound jet. The Boeing 777-200ER landed safely back in London just after 5pm after pilots turned the aircraft around and burned off fuel while circling over the Bristol Channel.
The flight had left Heathrow at 12.14pm and reached 37,000 feet about an hour into the journey before dropping 28,000 feet and prompting a 7700 emergency squawk to air traffic control. Oxygen masks came down from the ceiling, and photographs shared on social media showed them hanging in the cabin as the plane headed back toward England.
Tom Nicholls, who was on board, said the descent to 9,000ft was not as uncomfortable as it may have seemed from outside. “The plane adjusted but it didn’t feel like it was descending rapidly. I’d say the pilots did a very good job,” he said, adding that the masks appeared soon after and there was uncertainty in the cabin before the captain told passengers they were below 10,000ft and the masks were no longer needed.
That detail matters because a rapid descent below 10,000 feet and a 7700 squawk are commonly associated with cabin depressurisation, even though British Airways has not confirmed the official cause of the emergency. The airline said the aircraft returned after a technical issue, that customers disembarked normally, and that teams were working to get travel plans back on track.
The Boeing involved was delivered to the carrier in July 1997, but its age has not been linked to the incident and does not by itself explain what happened. What is clear is that the crew handled the situation, got the aircraft back to Heathrow safely and, by Tuesday, many passengers had already been rebooked onto new flights.
