Passenger plane experiences ‘technical issue’ over Swansea
A BOEING 767 spent two hours circling over Swansea on Saturday after experiencing a technical issue.
The flight, scheduled to travel from London Heathrow to Chicago, took off at 2.50pm but only made it as far as Swansea before developing problems. That’s when it was spotted flying in circles at around 27,000ft.
The United Airlines flight 959 was eventually able to land back at London, Heathrow, after around three hours in the sky.
London 999 tweeted that flight 959 had declared an emergency in the air. A fire incident at Heathrow this afternoon was not connected with the Chicago flight.
Many people noticed the plane circling, and took to social media to get answers.
Richard Jones asked: “@united why is the flight from London to Chicago circling around Swansea?”
There was relief to hear flight 959 had landed safely.
DM Curtis and Sons said: “Good to hear it’s landed safe was circling right over us in Swansea.”
A United Airlines spokesman said: “Our team at London Heathrow is providing assistance to customers of United flight 959, London Heathrow-Chicago, today which returned to London Heathrow because of a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely and our maintenance team is inspecting the aircraft. We are providing our customers with meal vouchers and hotel accommodation and are making arrangements for them to complete their journeys tomorrow.”