Flight from London pressured to make emergency touchdown as hearth crews swarm runway
A flight travelling from London was forced to make an emergency landing as fire crews met the plane on the runway in Brussels.
A Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) flight en route from London to Zurich was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Belgium on Monday evening after the crew declared an aerial emergency. A possible fire in the cabin is the reason for the emergency landing, according to The Aviation Herald.
Flight LX325 departed London Heathrow Airport (LHR) at 17:19 BST, slightly behind its scheduled departure. The aircraft performed a standard climb, reaching a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet as it crossed the English Channel.
The flight continued normally until it reached Belgian airspace. The flight crew then contacted Air Traffic Control (ATC) and transmitted a Squawk 7700 code – the international signal for a general emergency.
After declaring the emergency, the flight abandoned course to Zurich before performing a sharp turn over central Belgium and being vectored toward Brussels Airport (BRU). The aircraft initiated a rapid descent and local emergency services at Brussels Airport were reportedly placed on standby.
The plane landed on runway 07L in Brussels at 19:26 local time and was met by fire trucks on the taxiway. The specific nature of the technical failure or medical situation remains unknown.
Operations were suspended following the emergency landing.
Meanwhile, a pilot of an EasyJet flight aborted his landing a a major airport in France after hearing an explosion and smoke coming from near the runway.
The incident caused chaos for Air Traffic control on Easter Sunday (April 5) at around 5:40pm. The EasyJet plane was arriving from Venice, Italy, when smoke at ground level of runway 3 caused the pilot to pull up for the safety of passengers. According to La Parisien, mini-explosions could be seen with reports suggesting they were caused by fireworks.
Multiple people were reportedly seen at the corner of Rue Lamartine and Rue du 8-Mai-1945 in Villeneuve-le-Roi (Val-de-Marne), which is close to Staf transport company’s warehouse.
According to the French publication, a type of firework had been set off by the group as part of a wedding celebration. There had been false reports that one of the “projectile” had hit the aircraft. However, a spokesperson for EasyJet told the La Perisien that “at no point was the aircraft struck by any projectile.”.
In a statement, easyJet said: “easyJet can confirm that the captain of flight EJU4874 from Venice to Paris Orly on April 5 elected to perform a routine ‘go around’ on arrival into Orly due to perceived fireworks in the vicinity of the runway.
“easyJet’s pilots are highly trained in order to perform ‘go arounds’ as a precaution and in line with our procedures and the flight landed normally. At no point was the safety of the passengers onboard compromised.
“The safety and well-being of its passengers and crew is always easyJet’s highest priority.”
