A British Airways jumbo jet which left Heathrow airport on Saturday 2nd October was forced into making an emergency landing only minutes after taking off.
The Boeing 747 flight bound for New York was carrying 296 people on board and was grounded after a warning light in the cockpit indicated one of the doors was not completely closed.
Residents in Wimbledon, in south west London, reported seeing a low-flying aircraft as flight BA117 turned in the air over London at 0920 BST, just as the fault was noticed and the aeroplane returned to the airport.
The aircraft landed after a total of 11 minutes in the air where all passengers walked free from the plane and the airline staff said they would be put on another flight, later in the day.
A British Airways spokeswoman said a full investigation was taking place.
She added: “Obviously it takes a bit of time to find another aircraft but we are looking to do that as soon as possible.”
A statement was released by the carrier, which said: “Passengers disembarked normally after the aircraft returned to Heathrow shortly after take-off.
“The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the stand.
“It returned to the airport as a precaution because the handle on one of the cabin doors was moving. At no time was the door open.”
This wasn’t the only emergency landing to take place at the weekend as a Russian plane carrying 73 passengers made an emergency landing on Sunday after an anonymous caller claimed there was a bomb on board, officials said.
At least in both cases all passengers disembarked the aircrafts unscathed and carried on with their journeys with only a short delay.
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