LONDON- Richard Branson’s Virgin Group owned, Virgin Atlantic (VS) flight VS129 from London Heathrow (LHR) to Tampa International Airport (TPA), Florida made a U-turn due to some technical issues.
The London-based carrier operates daily flights between London and Tampa, the Big Guava city.
Virgin Atlantic London to Tampa Flight
According to Flight Radar 24 data, the Virgin Atlantic flight VS129 took off from London at 2:24 PM UTC with an hour of delay. The flight operated smoothly for around 30 minutes, but it declared an emergency as it was flying over the land and entering the Atlantic Ocean skies.
The aircraft dropped immediately to 10,000 feet and simultaneously made a U-turn. An Aviation expert told us that this could be due to pressurization issues with aircraft.
The flight landed safely back at London Heathrow at around 3:46 PM UTC, almost one hour and 20 minutes later of its takeoff.
The flight exited the runway with its engine power but was later towed by a tug vehicle and was followed by a firefighter vehicle until it reached the gate of terminal 3. Passengers disembarked the aircraft and the aircraft is inspected by the maintenance staff.
We reached out to Virgin Atlantic and they told Aviation A2Z that,
“Our flight, the VS129 from London Heathrow to Tampa has returned to Heathrow on a priority landing due to a technical issue. The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority and the aircraft landed normally. We would like to apologise to customers for the delay and any inconvenience caused, and we’re working hard to ensure that they can continue their journey as soon as possible.”
The aircraft involved in the incident is Airbus A330-300, registered as G-VGEM. Further, it is a 13.6-year-old aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines.
Feature Image by Clément Alloing (@CAlloing) / X
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