The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which can typically carry 234 passengers, was on its way from Zurich to Philadelphia yesterday morning when it got into trouble
11:05, 23 Jun 2026Updated 11:11, 23 Jun 2026
A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from American Airlines (file photo)(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A passenger plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in the UK after declaring an in-flight emergency.
The American Airlines flight got into trouble over the North Sea, diverting from its planned route and instead heading to land in Britain.
American Airlines flight AA93 departed Zurich Airport at 11:54am yesterday and was headed for Philadelphia International Airport – but not long after take-off the crew signalled all was not well onboard.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which can typically seat 234 passengers, took off normally from Zurich and completed a standard climb to its cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, heading northwest across German airspace.
But things stopped going to plan around one hour and 15 minutes into the scheduled eight-hour flight as the aircraft made its way through the skies between Belgium and the eastern coast of the UK.
Flight AA93 to Philadelphia declared an emergency off the coast of the UK(Image: Airlive)
The crew urgently alerted air traffic control to an unspecified onboard emergency by transmitting a “Squawk 7700” emergency code to officials on the ground. Flight tracking data shows the Dreamliner abandoned its transatlantic crossing and began a rapid descent over the UK.
Air traffic controllers actively gave the aircraft priority as they worked with pilots to coordinate a diversion that would bring the plane into land at London Heathrow Airport.
The flight came in to land at London Heathrow at 12:30pm before taking off again headed to Philadelphia at 1.55pm.
American Airlines confirmed to the Mirror that the unscheduled landing was made due to a medical emergency involving a passenger .
Meanwhile an American Airlines pilot was forced to make a chilling call to air traffic controllers before landing on Sunday as a man allegedly bit another passenger on board.
The flight was landing in Philadelphia when the passenger was “trying to fight everybody” and suddenly got out of control.
Audio from the call from the pilot heard him say: “I don’t know if he’s hallucinating or whatever, but he just bit a passenger, and he’s trying to fight everybody.”
He then requested emergency medical crews and law enforcement before telling a controller in an audio recording, “what a day, huh?”
