An Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER returned to London Heathrow on May 2 after declaring an emergency about an hour into its flight to Toronto. No injuries were reported among the passengers or crew. The carrier has not confirmed the nature of the emergency.
Squawk 7700 over the Atlantic
Air Canada flight AC853, a 777-300ER registered C-FITL, departed Heathrow at 08:34 BST. The aircraft climbed to its initial cruising altitude of FL340 and was tracking west over the Atlantic when the crew transmitted a Squawk 7700 emergency code at 09:30 BST, according to AirLive.
Return to Heathrow
The aircraft turned back and touched down on runway 27L at approximately 10:02 BST. Emergency vehicles met the aircraft at the gate. None of the occupants were injured.
What Air Canada has said
Travel And Tour World reported the cause of the emergency had not been disclosed by Air Canada at the time of publication. A Squawk 7700 transmission is the general aviation emergency code and can be triggered by anything from a technical malfunction to a medical event onboard.
Yorkshire Live noted the aircraft was met at the gate by ground emergency response — standard procedure for any arrival with a 7700 code regardless of cause.
The 777-300ER is the workhorse widebody for Air Canada’s transatlantic operations. AircrewNews will update this story as Air Canada or the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch publish further information.
