A British Airways Dreamliner has issued a mayday call over central NSW and returned to Sydney.

In short:

A British Airways flight has been forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport after a mayday call was made by the pilot.

In a statement British Airways said "the aircraft returned to Sydney as a precaution after reports of a technical issue".

Footage from the airport showed a convoy of emergency vehicles arriving to meet the plane, including aviation fire trucks.

A British Airways flight has been forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport after a mayday call was made by the pilot.

The British Airways passenger flight BA16 was on its way to Singapore and made the emergency return to Sydney Airport about an hour after take-off on Monday afternoon.

A mayday call is the highest distress signal a pilot can send to alert air traffic controllers of a potentially life-threatening emergency.

In a statement British Airways said “the aircraft returned to Sydney as a precaution” after reports of a technical issue but they have not disclosed what the problem involved, though there have been unconfirmed reports of a suspected fuel leak.

“The flight landed safely, and our teams are working hard to get customers’ journeys back on track as soon as possible”.

In a recording of the mayday call, the pilot onboard the Boeing 787-9 Dream liner can be heard saying: “Mayday Speed Bird16 … I’m just about to come fully established on 43 left … we will have to stop for a minute after landing.”  

The air traffic controller at Sydney Airport responds: “G’day copied, mayday acknowledged”.

Sydney Airport said the plane was “met by emergency services as part of standard procedures”.

Footage from the airport shows a convoy of emergency vehicles arriving to meet the plane, including aviation fire trucks.

“All passengers have since disembarked safely and there has been no impact to airport operations,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.

Passengers could be seen queued up at the international terminal.

‘Talk of smoke in the cockpit’

Passengers who were on board the flight told the ABC there was no sense of panic on board, and the pilot had made an announcement over the intercom about being able to smell fuel.

“There was talk of smoke in the cockpit. So, half an hour out and then we came half an hour back,” one woman said. 

“I’m glad it happened when it did and not five hours out on the flight path, where would we be now.”

Credits: