An Air France 777-300 traveling to Los Angeles encountered engine trouble over London and was forced to dump fuel and return to Paris.
Air France 777-300 Diverts After Oil System Issues Force Engine Shutdown Near London
Here’s a snapshot of what happened:
- On January 4, 2023, Air France 73 traveling from Paris (CDG) to Los Angeles (LAX) took off on-time from Paris
- The flight was operated by a Boeing 777-300 aircraft, registration number F-GSQL
- As the plane flew over London at 30,000 feet, the pilots observed “anomalies” with one of the engines (GE90), specifically with the oil system
- As a precautionary move, the engine was shut down and the plane turned around to head back to Paris
- Enroute to CDG, thousands of pounds of fuel were dumped
- The plane landed at 3:49 pm local time, about 100 minutes after takeoff
As The Aviation Herald explained:
An Air France Boeing 777-300, registration F-GSQL performing flight AF-72 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was enroute at FL300 about 20nm northeast of London,EN (UK) when the crew observed anomalies with one of the engine (GE90) oil systems and decided to return to Paris. The crew subsequently shut the engine down due to the loss of oil pressure, descended the aircraft down to FL150 and dumped fuel. The aircraft landed back on Charles de Gaulle’s runway 27L about 100 minutes after departure. The airline reported the aircraft returned to Paris due to a problem with an engine oil system.
F-GSQL remained grounded for five days, but will operate AF54 from Paris to Washington (IAD) later today.
This is the same aircraft that was forced to divert to Munich (MUC) while traveling from Paris to Dubai (DXB) in November 2022. On that flight, the crew reported smoke in the cockpit while flying over Budapest, Hungary, leading to the MUC diversion.
CONCLUSION
An Air France 777 flight bound for Los Angeles was forced to divert after experiencing engine anomalies over London. This incident led to some unintended consequences that impacted me personally, which I will share about shortly.
image: FlightRadar24
I think you meant AF72 not AF73 also did you fly on the 9 pm flight or AF4083 the next day?
F-GSQL could be the new Deli Mike if it continues its acts of random weirdness.