A Chicago-bound British Airways airliner was forced to drop 28,000 feet in seven minutes before declaring an emergency.
Passengers on Flight BA295 were then forced to sit on the plane for four hours as it circled the UK and landed back in London, where it took off from.
The Boeing 777 departed Heathrow Airport at 12:15 p.m. but was forced to turn around over Ireland after the unspecified “technical issue” caused it to rapidly descend 28,000 feet, according to FlightAware.
Oxygen masks were then deployed for the passengers and crew following the sudden steep descent, The Mirror reported.
After pilots declared an emergency, the plane then spent hours cruising around the shoreline of Wales to burn enough fuel to be able to land, the flight tracking website showed.
“The aircraft landed safely after our highly-trained pilots returned to Heathrow following a technical issue,” British Airways reportedly wrote in a statement.
“Customers disembarked the aircraft normally and our teams are working to get their travel plans back on track as quickly as possible.”
