3:05 PM ET: Updated with statement from United Airlines
A Washington-bound United Airlines flight has just diverted to London Heathrow after declaring an emergency due to an unspecified mechanical issue.
UA925 Diverts To Heathrow After Mechanical Issue Onboard
Earlier this afternoon, UA925 took off from London (LHR) on-time just after 4:00 pm, bound for Washington Dulles (IAD). The flight was operated by a 30-year-old Boeing 767-300, registration code N662UA, first delivered to United in 1993.
Shortly after takeoff, as the aircraft passed over Manchester, the captain declared an emergency (squawking 7700) and turned the aircraft back toward London Heathrow. It landed at 5:56 pm local time where it has sat on the ground.
At this point, we have no reason to believe that any passengers were in danger. Typically, these declared emergences are done out of abundance of caution and this diversion
A United spokesperson told Live And Let’s Fly:
United Flight 925 from London to Washington Dulles safely returned to London shortly after takeoff due to a potential mechanical issue. Passengers deplaned at the gate normally and we are making alternative arrangements to get our customers to their destination as soon as possible.
In fact, it appears that within the hour UA925 will take off again using the same aircraft, suggesting the mechanical problem may have been mild in nature:
This is a developing story. We have reached out to United Airlines for more information and will update this story accordingly if United provides additional details.
Question for actual aviation folks, not other frequent fliers that happen to know more than the average bear:
Is there a technical difference between “diverting” and “returning”? This particular flight/aircraft returned to LHR whence it departed. Diverted sounds more serious than simply stating “returned to the origin airport” or something similar, but is there a factual differentiation?
They are used pretty synonymously “divert & return”, but technically diverting would be going to an airport that is different from both the scheduled departure & arrival airport. Whereas return means to simply return to the departure airport. E.g. LHR-IAD scheduled flight… if the flight goes back to LHR after departure it “returned” whereas if the flight landed in DUB, for example, it “diverted” since DUB is not the departure or arrival airport. Hope this helps.
From what it’s worth from a private pilot:
Diverting is landing at an airport other than your original destination. It could be returning to your origin or some other airport. In this case I imagine the flight returned to LHR is because whatever issue was at fault was not considered serious enough to divert somewhere closer like Manchester, where there are no United facilities. They would also have had to dump fuel on the way as well.
We differentiated between ATB – air turnbsck – and BTB block turnback.
Thanks everyone! That was very helpful.
The Boeing 767 fleet is really getting up there in age and hopefully will be replaced soon. There are a lot of delays and cancellations because of technical issues.
Given the turnaround it may have been to offload a sick or unruly passenger?
A little too much wine in the lounge again, Stuart?
Agreed about the UA 767s. I’m sure many of them work much of the time, but my personal experience is pretty dire. I don’t trust anything that is so often broken, and don’t want to be in mid-ocean when it turns out my skepticism was well founded.
Last week I flew a DL 764 and had a 1-hr delay (not bad, to be quite honest) because of “mechanical issues” before takeoff.
I really, really hope it does not take one of these things falling out of the sky for these airlines to put the 767 to pasture.
I’ve had this happen several times in Naval aircraft. You take off and an instrument goes to zero. The engine or gearbox appears to be operating normally. However, the emergency checklist says to land as soon as practicable. So we land, find a mechanic (usually one of our flight attendants is a mechanic) and get it fixed.
“The aircraft was operated by a 30-year-old Boeing 767-300, registration code N662UA, first delivered to United in 1993.”
The aircraft was operated… by an aircraft. Ding dong. Somebody needs a clue.
Living close to LHR, I wish all the US airlines would stop flying these ancient crates over our city. Other airlines have much more modern and safe fleets.
Agreed.
I believe an ideal solution would be to bring back the Queen Mary. I mean, it’s not really doing a lot these days, just sitting there in Long Beach! Just sayin’
Well, actually there is the Queen Mary2,it was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend it if you have the time.Sails between New York and Southampton,on some dates Hamburg as well.