British Airways flight BA295 to Chicago forced to make u-turn, emergency landing as plane plunges 28,000 feet

A British Airways flight has been forced to declare a mid-air emergency and abandon the journey’s scheduled destination after the aircraft rapidly plunged 28,000 feet.

Flight BA295 was bound for Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Monday when about an hour into the journey a “technical issue” caused the Boeing 777-200ER to suddenly descend rapidly as it travelled over Ireland.

According to Flight Aware tracking data, the plane had reached its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet before dropping sharply to an altitude of 9,000 feet.

Passenger Tom Nicholls said the flight was marred by “uncertainty” as “sudden” turbulence rocked the aircraft and oxygen masks were deployed from the cabin’s ceiling.

“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, according to The Guardian.

“The oxygen masks popped out soon after and there was a bit of uncertainty onboard.

“The couple in front couldn’t get to theirs but by the time they’d found a spare seat with a mask, the captain announced we were below 10,000ft so they were not needed.”

The pilots issued a 7700 emergency squawk call to air traffic control, an alert made in the case of an emergency, before they were forced to turn back and make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport.

The plane landed safely back in England where many of the passengers were rebooked onto flights set to depart on Tuesday.

A British Airways spokesperson said the emergency was caused by a “technical issue”, without providing further detail.

“The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and the aircraft landed safely after our highly trained pilots returned to Heathrow following a technical issue,” they said in a statement obtained by The Guardian.

“Customers disembarked the aircraft normally and our teams are working to get their travel plans back on track as quickly as possible.”