Over the weekend, two Virgin Atlantic flights from London Heathrow to Orlando & Seattle were affected by technical issues.
Both flights operated from their main hub at Heathrow, with the issues resulting in u-turns back to base as a result.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Flight #1: Virgin Atlantic Flight VS105 to Seattle…
Virgin Atlantic flight VS105 is a routine scheduled flight between London Heathrow and Seattle, with the affected rotation being operated by G-VZIG.
As per data from Planespotters.net, G-VZIG is a 8.9 year old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that was delivered to the British carrier back in March 2015.
VS105 departed London Heathrow at 1241 local time and initially headed northbound to loop over the Atlantic Ocean to Seattle.
Upon reaching the Midlands, the aircraft made a u-turn followed by a singular hold to burn some fuel, before returning to Heathrow following the incident.
As per @FlightEmergency on X, VS105 returned to London Heathrow due to an issue with it’s RAM air turbine.
The RAM air turbine generates power from the airstream by ram pressure due to the speed of the aircraft and is used in emergencies.
Flight #2: VS91 to Orlando…
As well as VS105 originally bound for Seattle, Virgin Atlantic flight VS91 was also affected by a problem onboard, with this flight originally bound for Orlando and was operated by G-VGBR.
Data from Planespotters.net shows that G-VGBR is a 11.5 year old Airbus A330-300 that was delivered to the UK carrier back in August 2012.
VS91 departed London Heathrow at 1445 local time on January 27 and proceeded initially westbound towards Orlando.
Over the Atlantic Ocean, the aircraft experienced a problem onboard which forced a u-turn also back to Heathrow, with the aircraft landing back into the airport at 1953 local time.
@FlightEmergency on X also found the cause of this return back to base, which was due to a temperature control issue in the cockpit.
Without such controls, it can affect the safety of those in the cockpit and also onboard the aircraft too.
G-VGBR, which was originally supposed to go to Orlando, was grounded for the rest of the day and returned to service on January 28 operating to Bridgetown and then to Manchester.
As for G-VZIG, originally bound for Seattle, the aircraft returned to service on January 28 and continued on to the U.S destination and has since done a round trip back to London Heathrow.
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