As of about 1:00 p.m. EDT Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, outlets report that British Airways Flight BA295, bound from London Heathrow to Chicago, declared an emergency, descended steeply and returned to Heathrow. Gulf News and the aviation news network AIRLIVE place the descent over Ireland; NBC News says the plane turned around over Ireland. NBC reports that it landed at Heathrow at 5 p.m. local time (noon ET).
British Airways told the Daily Express, per AOL UK, that the crew returned to Heathrow “following a technical issue” and did not say what it was; none of the other reports gives a cause. NBC called it a developing story. Every figure below is attributed to the outlet that published it, and the reports do not agree on several details. NBC does not give the flight number; Gulf News and AIRLIVE identify the Chicago-bound flight as BA295.
What the flight-tracking data show
NBC News, in a report stamped 12:09 p.m. EDT, says the Boeing 777 was “about 30 minutes into its journey” when it “dropped from 36,000 feet to 9,000 feet in around seven minutes, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.” NBC describes that as a descent of 27,000 feet.
Gulf News, last updated at 10:15 a.m. EDT (18:15 in Dubai), cites AIRLIVE for the flight details. It says Flight BA295 “departed London Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at 11:50am local time for Chicago O’Hare International Airport.” About an hour into the flight, Gulf News writes, the aircraft “had reached an altitude of 37,000 feet when it began a rapid descent over Irish airspace.” Tracking data showed it “dropping to around 9,000 feet within minutes before turning back towards Heathrow.”
Gulf News also says the tracking service Flightradar24 “confirmed the incident in a post on X, saying BA295 was ‘squawking 7700’ and had descended to 9,000 feet over Ireland.”
AIRLIVE, in its own report (published 12:05 UTC, last updated 16:33 UTC, which is 12:33 p.m. EDT), says the flight “took off from London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 at 11:50 AM today.” It says that after climbing to a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet, “Air traffic tracking data indicates that the long-haul twin-jet initiated a rapid descent, dropping 28,000 feet to an altitude of 9,000 feet within minutes.” AIRLIVE says the crew then “issued a squawk 7700 code, the international aviation signal for a general emergency.”
Where the reports differ
The outlets give different numbers, and this article does not try to reconcile them.
- Departure time: NBC puts take-off at 12:15 p.m. and does not give a time zone for it; it labels the 5 p.m. landing as local time. Gulf News says 11:50 a.m. local time, and AIRLIVE says 11:50 AM without naming a time zone.
- When the descent began: NBC says about 30 minutes into the journey. Gulf News and AIRLIVE say about an hour into the flight.
- Altitude figures: NBC, citing FlightAware, says a drop from 36,000 feet to 9,000 feet, which it calls 27,000 feet. Gulf News, citing AIRLIVE for the departure details, says 37,000 feet. AIRLIVE’s own figure is a drop of 28,000 feet to 9,000 feet. The 9,000 feet also appears in Gulf News’s reference to tracking data and in Flightradar24’s post on X.
- Aircraft: NBC says Boeing 777. Gulf News says Boeing 777-200ER, citing AIRLIVE. AIRLIVE lists the aircraft as a Boeing 777-236ER and describes it as “a 30 year-old Boeing 777-200ER registered as G-VIIA.”
None of the outlets explains the differences.
What squawk 7700 means
Gulf News writes that the crew “also transmitted the international emergency code 7700, which indicates a general emergency.” AIRLIVE uses almost the same description. Neither says what kind of problem the crew was reporting.
Where the aircraft went and when it landed
According to NBC, “the plane turned around over Ireland before zig-zagging over the Bristol Channel to the west of England for the next four hours. It finally landed back at London’s Heathrow Airport at 5 p.m. local time (noon ET), almost five hours after its 12:15 p.m. take off.”
AIRLIVE’s live log lines up with that landing time. It records, at 16:05 UTC (12:05 p.m. EDT), “Touch down on runway 27L.” Earlier entries in the same log, all AIRLIVE’s own reporting:
- 12:11 UTC: “Now making a U-turn, still holding 9,000 feet.”
- 12:15 UTC: “We have confirmation flight BA295 is returning to London Heathrow but no fuel jettison, 30T fuel on board.”
- 12:58 UTC: “To burn more fuel in order to reduce the weight, the crew will lower the landing gear while flying in the holding pattern.”
Gulf News, in its 10:15 a.m. EDT update, before the landing, said the aircraft “later stabilised at about 9,000 feet and continued towards London.” It also said, without naming a source, that emergency response teams at potential diversion airports “were also placed on standby as a precaution while the aircraft returned to the UK.”
What British Airways has said, and what about injuries
The statement came after the first reports. The AOL UK page that carries the Daily Express’s reporting, updated at 12:39 p.m. EDT, quotes “a spokesperson for British Airways” as saying: “The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and 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 statement does not say what the technical issue was.
Earlier, NBC, in the version of its report we read, stamped 12:09 p.m. EDT, wrote that “British Airways and Heathrow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.” Gulf News, in its 10:15 a.m. EDT update, wrote that British Airways “has yet to provide further details about the incident or confirm whether the flight will be rescheduled for Chicago.” We found no statement from an aviation authority in NBC’s report, in Gulf News’s report, in AIRLIVE’s log or on the AOL UK page.
On injuries, Gulf News wrote, as of its 10:15 a.m. EDT update and before the landing NBC reports: “No injuries have been reported among passengers or crew.” NBC’s report does not address injuries. The AOL UK page also says that other photos, “purportedly taken inside the aircraft,” “appear to show passengers wearing oxygen masks”; that is the page’s description of unverified photos, and we have not seen them.
What the reports say about passengers
NBC wrote: “Passengers will likely be put up in hotels by the airline until another flight can arranged, as stipulated by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority.” That is NBC’s expectation, not a British Airways announcement.
AIRLIVE’s log, which attributes none of these lines to a named source, records that the airline was scheduling a new departure at 15:00 local time (13:24 UTC entry) and then “New departure scheduled for 17:30 local time” (14:00 UTC entry). Its final entry, at 16:30 UTC (12:30 p.m. EDT), reads: “The airline is now cancelling the flight.” That is AIRLIVE’s report. Gulf News, at 10:15 a.m. EDT, had said British Airways had not confirmed whether the flight would be rescheduled, and we saw no British Airways confirmation of the cancellation.
What is not known
Several things remain unknown from the reports. British Airways’s statement refers only to “a technical issue.” Gulf News says “the exact nature of the problem that prompted the emergency declaration and the steep descent has not been disclosed,” and NBC gives no cause either. Neither NBC nor Gulf News says how many people were aboard.