VS1 Back to Heathrow

Just sitting outside and a Virgin 747 came in quite low with wheels down near Battersea. Can tell from this site its VS1/VBIG returning to Heathrow. I know its not uncommon, but anyone know why. It returned less than an hour after take off

Looks like she headed out over the channel to dump fuel before landing: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VIR1

[Neil]

Kyle just confirmed in Twitter that VS1 is returning to LHR due to technical problems.

LHR website showing due to depart again at 18:25

Thanks - picked it up on twitter. A Sky presenter spotted it with wheels down over Reading. A passenger has tweeted back to say the landing gear has a problem.

This was the fb message from one of my friends........
"Stuck on the plane at heathrow. Our flight was on time, took off on time but after 10 mins of gaining altitude, they say over the announcement that 1 of the landing gear hasn't come back up so we need to fly over the water, dump some fuel & then have to make an emergency landing back at heathrow with fire engines waiting for us. Also whilst we were in the air, the fire alarm went off making the passengers panic even more. CRAZY!!!!!!!"

On the plus side they have been given cheese & onion sarnies

[Nottingham Nick]

Thanks for the (almost) first hand reporting, hotlips charli y) y)


Nick

My friend & his fiancee are on way to New Jersey to get married with 20 of his friends and family tagging along so it will be something they will remember forever Im guessing they got away at 8.30 as predicted

Julie

My friend & his fiancee are on way to New Jersey to get married with 20 of his friends and family tagging along so it will be something they will remember forever Im guessing they got away at 8.30 as predicted

Julie

Looks like they haven't - 20:30 tomorrow now! (surprised passengers were't all just rebooked on other flights or even airlines with the amount going between LHR and NYC)

That's some delay, presumably VS doesn't have any other option, even one of the A346s that appear perennially parked at LHR! What with it being summer and all, and the Olympics, I'm guessing all flights are rammed so that's 730 people VS has a headache dealing with!

Havent had an update yet.....maybe they have moved some onto the earlier flight?? I know they were a little worried about going on the same aircraft

Plus the Hong Kong couldn't leave last night because of a typhoon so that's another aircraft down!

This mornings update
"No we're still in the uk. Total chaos last night. Flight cancelled. Booked us all in a hotel but Didn't get into the hotel until 23:30 because there there were only 3 coaches to take 373 people to the hotel. No food when we got here & only 4 hours sleep!!! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!Absolute chaos last night with the Virgin staff causing most of it. Hopefully we'll make it to the US today."

Aww well at least he will have more memories from his wedding!!! ii)

Came over Guildford yesterday quite low (for Guildford traffic anyway) and thought it was a little strange, it's route from flight radar 24!

So was the flight delayed overnight due to VS being unable to fix the aircraft in that time?

Surely they'd be able to call upon a replacement crew for the revised departure before 8pm tonight?

Looks like its operating as the VS101 dep LHR 1245, let's see!!!

I am flying on VS1 in 27 days for a holiday and flying back from Washington DC 8 days later. Very glad, this was not my flight as losing a day of my 4 days in NYC would not be ideal to say the least.

Sounds like the passengers were treated badly to say the least ...

Did they make it to Newark then?

Plus the Hong Kong couldn't leave last night because of a typhoon so that's another aircraft down!

and VYOU went to Brisbane on her way to Sydney, not that it would cause much knock on delay. Guess that was medical related...

[mitchja]

Plus the Hong Kong couldn't leave last night because of a typhoon so that's another aircraft down!

and VYOU went to Brisbane on her way to Sydney, not that it would cause much knock on delay. Guess that was medical related...

She was diverted due to bad weather.

Yep fog at Sydney

[Darren Wheeler]

Someone is complaining on the Facebook page. Apparently the rang customers services and were told that the passenger knew more than they did.

Seeing as the passenger is getting announcements from the flight deck, I'm not surprised.

Having been on several cancelled flights and put up in overnight accomodation, I have to say every experience has been difficult and chaotic.

Whilst they are not easy situations for airlines to deal with, I do think communication and planning tend to fall apart. Some staff also seem unaware of passenger rights under EC 261/2004.

[Darren Wheeler]

Having see plenty of these situations, people tend to be their own worse enemies and the mob mentality kicks in.

You end up with 300 people, all of whom seem to be waving tickets/boarding passes, demanding to be dealt with first as their plans are far more important than the other 299 passengers.

[Neil]

Having see plenty of these situations, people tend to be their own worse enemies and the mob mentality kicks in.

You end up with 300 people, all of whom seem to be waving tickets/boarding passes, demanding to be dealt with first as their plans are far more important than the other 299 passengers.

I couldn't agree more. We had experienced this when our JFK flight home was cancelled due to bad weather, and yes the airport staff have a tough few hours but the way some of the pax were acting just was unbelievable.

They should have followed our lead and hunted down/got friendly with some UC pax which resulted in them guesting us in to the CH for best part of 10 hours 8D You make your own luck I say.