A British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from London Heathrow to Chennai was forced to turn back mid-air after suffering a suspected ‘flap failure,’ just days after the same aircraft model was involved in the Air India crash that left only one survivor.
The BA35 flight was under an hour into its journey when the pilot detected a potential technical issue, according to MailOnline. The aircraft circled above the Strait of Dover for about an hour to dump fuel before safely landing back at Heathrow at 1:50 p.m., as shown on Flightradar24.
On the same day, another Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operated by Air India and headed to New Delhi had to return to Hong Kong due to another suspected technical fault.
These incidents come amid growing concerns over the Boeing 787 model’s safety. A recently surfaced video from the Air India disaster has sparked speculation of a possible dual engine failure prior to the deadly crash that killed 241 people.
British Airways confirmed to MailOnline that the Chennai-bound flight returned to Heathrow as a “standard precaution.” A source stressed it was not an emergency landing but a routine response to a technical issue.
A spokesperson for BA said:
“The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue.
The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would, and our teams worked hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”
