British Airways Flight Drops 28K Feet, Circles for Hours

Passengers on a British Airways flight to Chicago got an unwelcome detour over England on Monday. Shortly after leaving London's Heathrow, the Boeing 777 abruptly descended about 28,000 feet to around 9,000 feet while over Ireland and then spent several hours circling before returning to the airport, reports the Guardian. The drop came over the course of seven minutes, reports NBC News. The airline cited a "technical issue" and said the jet landed safely, notes Fox News, with passengers disembarking normally and being rebooked.

Flight-tracking data showed the plane turning back but remaining aloft, which aviation expert and retired Navy fighter pilot Matthew "Whiz" Buckley said matches an emergency descent likely tied to a pressurization concern. The Guardian notes that oxygen masks were deployed during the incident. Buckley says that pilots may have needed to stay in the air to burn off fuel to reach a safe landing weight: "You cannot land heavy... You don't want to turn one emergency into another."