A British Airways flight from Heathrow was forced to return after hours in the air following a technical glitch.

Passengers on board the BA295 flight from London Heathrow to Chicago were left confused following a sudden U-turn.

The Boeing 777 took off from the UK’s busiest airport at about 12.15pm yesterday and headed towards Ireland ahead of the Atlantic crossing.

But less than an hour in the air, as the aircraft had reached 36,000ft, it suffered an issue.

Within minutes, the jet dropped to 9,000ft before turning around to the UK coast as it declared a general emergency, tracking website Flightradar24 shows.

The plane then criss-crossed above the Bristol Channel for a couple of hours, believed to be to lighten the fuel weight before attempting to land.

The flight touched down at Heathrow shortly after 4pm.

British Airways said in a statement: ‘The aircraft landed safely after our highly trained pilots returned to Heathrow following a technical issue.

‘Customers disembarked the aircraft normally and our teams are working to get their travel plans back on track as quickly as possible.’

The Boeing 777 plane involved entered service 30 years ago, aircraft registration data shows.

It is thought to be one of the oldest in BA’s fleet of almost 300 aircraft.

Aviation enthusiasts commented on the incident on social media, with many saying they spotted the plane flying low in real time.

One commentator said on X: ‘Just flown VERY LOW over head going into Bristol Channel.’

Another person said: ‘Must be so much fun to sit on a plane for 5 hours only to return back to where you began.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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