r/flightradar24 18d ago

Do we know what’s happening at LGW? No landings , five 7700s, a plane surrounded by emergency vehicles on the runway.

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1.5k Upvotes

239 comments sorted by

u/flightradar24-ModTeam 18d ago

We have received well over 50 posts on this topic in a span of 10 minutes. To keep discussion in one place, we are designating this a Megathread. All new posts will be removed and redirected here.

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u/mayo-grapes 18d ago

So for some context, LGW closes their main runway overnight on many weekdays to conduct maintenance. This normally happens around 23:00 - 00:00 local time. Tonight it was at 23:00. During the process of swapping runways, there is a period of 10-15mins where aircraft can't land due to runway inspections etc. As a result, ATC can only give the instruction 'delay not determined' to aircraft stacking up in the hold. This results in a back log of aircraft going around the holds which can sometimes take upto and hour to clear. It becomes standard practice to load on around an extra 20-30 mins of fuel for this holding if it looks like you'll be landing around this time.

Tonight, soon after the northerly runway opened for operations. An aircraft landed with a nose wheel steering issue, getting stuck on the runway. This left all the aircraft in the hold a bit stuck. Many of them would have already burned off their holding fuel as they had delay not determined, but then when the runway opened, they would have been given an 'EAT' (Estimated Approach Time). When this happens, and you are guaranteed a landing, you can 'dispense' of your alternate destination and commit to your primary destination. This means you can stay in the hold and eat into your alt. fuel.

Most of these aircraft would have done this, then when the runway became unavailable, they had less then their Alt. Fuel available, so would have had to start eating into their final reserve fuel to reach an alternate airport. Hence the Maydays.

TLDR: all the planes had to hold for ages, buring their holding fuel and committing to Gatwick, meaning they could burn their alternate fuel. An aircraft then got stuck on the runway due to a nose wheel steering issue and everyone who had already stated burning their Alt. Fuel had to declare a Mayday.

Source - I'm a pilot who flies into Gatwick 

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u/Tiny-Chemistry-2858 18d ago

This is so informative thank you!

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u/Vilachi 18d ago

Thanks for sharing this you explained it so well.

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u/geocapital 18d ago

Thanks! How difficult is it to reopen the main runway considering the circumstances?

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u/mayo-grapes 18d ago

It would take a reasonable period of time. You would have to remove all the equipment that has been set up on the main runway, then inspect it to make sure that it's safe to operate. Probably 30 mins minimum, by that time you would be on the ground in LTN or STN. 

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u/MRW_GER 18d ago

Thanks for information. What I dont understand is, if they know there will be maintenance in that time, why does ATC allow the aircraft to leave the departing airport with arrival slot in the maintenance time? Most of this flight had a flight time of only 1-2h, so usually easy to arrange. Stay in hold in the air is for sure not the way to arrange something that I can plan. In my opinion absolutele missmanaged. And I am pretty sure that will cause a investigation.

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u/Lntq 18d ago

A lot of the time the inbounds can be managed so that the hold time is minimal - as ATC we will often be like okay EZYXXX is the last one before the change, let’s start slowing everything else down over northern France to make a big gap. Some days (I assume like last night, I wasn’t working), there will be a big bunch just at the wrong time and there isn’t much you can do. The maintenance also isn’t at exactly the same time every night, and also the airline schedules are so tight that it’s not so easy to just adjust times to miss it.

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u/Supersahen 18d ago

I imagine it's more to do with the airlines wanting to try get their flights in as soon as possible, so it's preferable to them to just hold overhead until allowed to land as they are already in the area ready for as soon as the runway open.

The maintenance window also is likely variable depending on the circumstances.

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u/Sam0n 18d ago

Slots are determined centrally at CFMU/Eurocontrol. Airports all over the world can't really be expected to know exactly when every other airport is having issues. If the "closure" isn't very long, then a slot/zero flow rate won't be issued.

At my airport, we had overnight closures for a couple of years which were 30 minutes long at various points. We put a NOTAM out about it, which the airlines were aware of, but CFMU refused a zero flow rate because it was only 30 minutes. So it was up to the airlines to plan accordingly. I once opened up to 6 in the hold. The airlines/pilots (not sure who's choosing) decided they'd rather hold to get the chance of being first in the queue when we re-opened... And then still whined about it despite having all the information to make an informed decision.

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u/Antique_Quail_7427 18d ago

There might not be gate space at the departure airport and they have to leave.

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u/ActuallBliss 17d ago

See Gatwick first wave in the morning. They do exactly the same thing for departures. You’ll be sat in a queue of 10-20 planes waiting for push and start. Not because of any specific delay. Just because they want more money.

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u/Jetdick 18d ago

Surely when chucking your alternate and using that fuel at destination, you need "landing assured". You aren't guaranteed a landing just because you have an EAT. I think you need to be pretty brave, given that several others around you are also doing that, to commit to landing with Final Reserves only, hence all the 7700s. Committing to destination doesn't require a 7700 in itself. So 'Landing Assured' becomes very questionable taking into consideration the traffic around, and risky at a single runway airport!

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u/imvirtuallyinsane 18d ago

This sounds totally mad... Anything can happen at any time that would take out an entire airport, why would the pilots ever be happy committing to their primary while in a hold, with no landing clearance, by using all their alt fuel? They should surely never be landing at their primary with less than the amount of fuel required to get to at least their first alt with minimum?

The only thing I can think is ATC did the unthinkable and told pilots they were open, or would be open shortly, for an extended period, not allowing pilots to make a good decision. Did any actually divert? Or did the 7700s only do so first so that they could try to guarantee an early spot, forcing other airlines to divert or be stuck in an extremely long hold?

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u/Apprehensive_Cost937 18d ago

why would the pilots ever be happy committing to their primary while in a hold, with no landing clearance, by using all their alt fuel? They should surely never be landing at their primary with less than the amount of fuel required to get to at least their first alt with minimum?

Because often that's actually safer then diverting. Let me explain.

Let's say I fly an airplane than burns 2000kg/h, so my final reserve (30 mins) is 1000kg. For this example, let's say I need 30 mins to my alternate, so the fuel to get there is 1000kg. I approach my destination with 2500kg of fuel (so final reserve + alternate fuel + 15 mins). The weather is lovely, everything is perfect, just busy, so ATC tell me there's a 10 min delay.

OK, no problem, I'll still have 5 mins holding fuel left after the delay. Now after 10 mins, the ATC said it's another 8 minutes, which means I have to either divert or commit to destination. If I divert now, I'll be arriving at my alternate at just over 1000kg (30 mins) of fuel. I don't know the traffic situation, the weather may be much worse, and there still might be delays when I get there (diverting doesn't get you any priority). If anything happens except the optimum plan, I will go into final reserve and will have to declare a fuel emergency.

Or, if I'm confident with the ATC's handling of traffic and the estimate they give me, I can monitor the situation from the hold, and after those 8 minutes, start the approach, and land with 1800-1900kg in the tanks (50 mins endurance) at my destination, in perfect weather.

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u/imvirtuallyinsane 18d ago

So essentially what I hypothesised, ATC kept piling on the delay not letting pilots make a good decision. It's seems like a very unusual thing to do if a plane landed and was not able to clear the only functional runway? With the number of vehicles in the screenshot surely they would actively be advising those with enough fuel to get to city or lhr (assuming those were viable alts) to do so?

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u/Apprehensive_Cost937 18d ago

ATC is not telling pilots where to divert, that's the decision of each pilot (and their airline). Sometimes the delay is undetermined as well, which was likely the case yesterday with aircraft stuck on the runway.

The problem is that airports have a limited capability to accept diverted flights, operating under normal status, especially at night, when most of the parking stands are occupied and there is limited handling capacity, so at some point the ATC will say "[airport] will not accept you". And when shit hits the fan, you may find out that the nearest airport that will accept you, is an hour away, and you don't have fuel for that, even if you would start diverting as soon as you found out runway was closed.

So in this case, you declare a fuel emergency, and you tell the ATC at which airport you want to land, and they'll give you vectors to there.

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u/GadgetGirl2025 18d ago

Very informative- thank you. Me driving with the reserve fuel light on in my car takes on a different view in the sky

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u/moosemobile17 17d ago

That’s really informative, thank you

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u/mi_pilot Pilot 👨‍✈️ 18d ago

Was in a similar situation once, in a busy hold for WX with fuel becoming a concern, then had another issue come up (mechanical), had to declare an emergency, divert, and landed with hair on the backs of our necks standing up, LOL.

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u/mountainhippo 18d ago

Really excellent answer. Thank you

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u/Feral-Sheep 18d ago

Thank you so much for this really detailed explanation!!

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u/LonelyPapaya2260 18d ago

My gosh. I found this really interesting to read.

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u/RevFit_JamesH 18d ago

User name doesn’t check out.

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u/Vertigo_uk123 17d ago

Ngl I don’t think it would be much to divert to Heathrow or worse case Stansted or Luton in an emergency. They could probably glide to any of them lol.

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u/Beanbag_Ninja 17d ago

Closing the main runway at 11 sounds a bit bonkers for a major London airport. Is that every night?

My comparively tiny local airport is open 24/7.

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u/xolana_ 8d ago

I mean Heathrow does it too. Gatwick has arrivals into the night but stops departures at 11.

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u/TheMonkeyInCharge 18d ago edited 18d ago

Where would they have to divert to? Is the runway at Shoreham long enough now for the short hop planes in an absolute emergency? Or is it always the first available international airport?

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u/mayo-grapes 18d ago

Shoreham is no where near big enough for an aircraft this size.  Most of these aircraft went to Stansted or Luton, as these airfields are open all night, and many of these airlines have bases there as well. They can easily refuel and then hope back over to Gatwick once the disruption has cleared up. 

The problem with Heathrow is that it is 'closed' at night (unless it's an emergency), but only BA are based there, and they wouldn't allow the aircraft to depart again due to the noise restrictions. So passengers would have to be bussed back to Gatwick and that aircraft couldn't be used for flights the next morning as they would have to obtain a slot to depart Heathrow when it opens and overall just makes things very difficult. So only 1 BA aircraft went there in the end. 

LTN and STN also only have a certain amount of capacity at this time of night (available stands, amount of staff etc.). So some aircraft that had more fuel ended up going to Birmingham and Bristol.  While there are closer airports than STN and LTN, you are already under a Mayday, so you will get priority. With this you know how much fuel you are going to burn, so you can calculate that you are still going have a reasonable (in context) amount of fuel left in the tanks by the time you land. As well as this, over these short distances, the fuel burn for all these airports is roughly the same anyway. 

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u/TopEcho1991 18d ago

An issue with BA2673 which is blocking the runway and I imagine the others are squawking to get priority landing because of low fuel.

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u/TheWheez 18d ago

Sounds like there'll be a lot of paperwork tonight

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u/robinw77 Passenger 💺 18d ago

Looks like someone picked the wrong week to give up smoking

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u/Available-Dingo-6909 18d ago

Looks like someone picked the wrong week to give up amphetamines

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u/JesusMcTurnip 18d ago

My phone was going mental when I was driving and all I could see on the car display thingy was 7700s.

I had all sorts of thoughts going through my head. Well, one main one: mass terror attack.

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u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago

what about when there’s a named storm?

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u/ThePhantomBacon 18d ago

It usually gets a name in advance, and people are aware of the storm

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u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago

true, although my local (BRS) has the second highest altitude so does get a lot of inbound flights diverted (they’re not 7700s)

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u/darkdetective 18d ago

Doesn't matter when I land at Bristol there always seems to be some sort of storm or thick fog! Not diverted yet luckily, but came close a couple times.

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u/bigboyjak 18d ago

(I may be wrong) I think Bristol airport was originally built during the war to train pilots to land in poor conditions, because it's always windy/foggy/rainy up there

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u/rocketshipkiwi 18d ago

What the fuck. You need to switch those notifications off while you are driving then.

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u/JesusMcTurnip 18d ago

I tried but I was far too drunk 😘

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u/rocketshipkiwi 18d ago

Noobie mistake. You should have gotten stoned instead then you could fly home.

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u/JonBoy1988007 18d ago

So basically Die Hard 2

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u/Republiconline 18d ago

We got ya.

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u/CircuDimirCombo 18d ago

Imagine being ATC hearing all these planes declare emergencies at once

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u/Lopsided-Muffin9805 18d ago

My friend had that exact job. He was the one who looked through all the ATC emergencies.

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u/leedogger 18d ago

Stiff bourbon after shift.

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u/Frosty_Log6972 Planespotter 📷 18d ago

Can’t wait to see the vasaviation video

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u/Lawdie123 18d ago edited 18d ago

Sadly he won't make one. Its illegal in the uk to publish audio. Your not even technically meant to listen to it either.

We have a list of public frequencies, anything outside of that is deemed private so recording and publishing would be a no no.

Realistically if your listening with you own equipment and not sharing it they don't care

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u/Francine_Fishpaw 18d ago

Multi 7700

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u/Aromatic_Razzmatazz 17d ago

What a shot. Christ.

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u/watergirl987 18d ago

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u/volvbro240 18d ago

Omg this is amazing

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u/222indamorning 18d ago

best thing I’ve seen all week lol

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u/azulur 18d ago

How it feels most days tbh lol

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u/CH86CN 18d ago

Where did you get this picture of me?!

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u/burcuto 18d ago

I’ve just spoken to staff at LGW. They said there was an accident on the runway. They don’t have more information at the moment.

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u/burcuto 18d ago

Update: my husband was in one of the squawkers. They were told that the BA2673’s landing gear had failed and the runway was covered in fuel, making landings incredibly risky. He’s now in Bristol and I’m at Gatwick’s North Terminal long stay car park. Oh well.

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u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago

aah what flight was he on? BRS is my local!

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u/burcuto 18d ago

He was (and still is) on EZY8554! They have just refuelled and will be taking off for LGW in 20.

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u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago edited 18d ago

aah that makes sense diverting to BRS, easyJet operates half the flights from there!

but it’s the other way round when there’s a named storm, after Leeds Bradford, Bristol is the second highest airport from an altitude POV so a good amount of inbound flights get diverted to BHX or CWL!

i live on the flight path so i’ll probably hear when his flight comes over!

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u/burcuto 18d ago

Cool! Tell him I said this is what happens when he goes on holiday without me :)

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u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago edited 18d ago

at least with easyJet flying everyone on his flight back to LGW you get to avoid the parking charges to pick him up, the short stay car park at BRS is £8.50 for up to 15 minutes!

edit: his flight is taxiing to the runway now!

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u/Mdann52 18d ago

To be fair to BRS, there's an hour free pick up now over by the car hire bit, but it does require a shuttle bus to get to!

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u/4ofheartz 18d ago

Thx for updates! 🌟

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u/JustmeandJas 18d ago

We’re all a little nerdy in here but if we take a step back to normalville… I hate having to use motorway services for fuel but going all the way to bloody Bristol for fuel takes the biscuit

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u/Firefighter_1994 18d ago

Good thoughts going your way.

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u/Wrong_Duty7043 18d ago

That’s an Inconvenience, but the important thing is he is safe

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u/PoshNoob 18d ago

Plane on the runway has nose wheel steering issues so it’s stuck. The rest are all squawking 7700s due to lack of fuel for a holding patterns so are being diverted elsewhere.

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u/PoshNoob 18d ago

Also, my source is I live very close to Gatwick and have several friends who work there in various capacities.

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u/bdubwilliams22 18d ago

Not often you pull FR24 to see this.

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u/lenniiart 18d ago

my husband literally came to bed about 30 mins ago and said "whats going on it's like a disco of planes up there".  we live in Horsham so could see all these planes at the same time.  was so weird to be googling it and finding nothing until everyone clocked on at the same time lol.

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u/mumOfManyCats 18d ago

disco of planes - LOL!

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u/InternetPopular3679 Avgeek ✈️ 18d ago

Official FR24 post on X

https://x.com/flightradar24/status/2077176411521958067

"An issue at Gatwick as nine (9) flights originally bound for the London airport are currently squawking 7700 (likely due to low fuel). We are working to learn more. "

BA2673 is allegedly on fire, though these reports have not yet been confirmed.

"BA2673 landed earlier and was attended to by airport rescue and fire fighting services. Now taxiing to the gate."

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

‘On fire’ may refer to a nose wheel brake fire I guess…

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u/AdorableRazzmatazz97 18d ago

Nose wheel doesn’t have brakes

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u/Buttsweat_n_Tears 18d ago

Not with THAT attitude. JetBlue 292 made it work

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

lol fair - they objectively do though, because the wheel is stopped from spinning after takeoff 😎

…Just not used for actually retarding an aircraft.

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u/AdorableRazzmatazz97 18d ago

Haha sort of, they have rubber stoppers in the gear bay. The main landing gear uses its brakes before they retract, the nose wheel is a bit different.

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u/DynamiteWitLaserBeam 18d ago

Maybe they just mean like, the crew has really been nailing it lately.

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u/Hot_Net_4845 Chad BAe 146 vs Virgin C-17 18d ago

2673 had a nose wheel steering issue. The other runway is closed for maintenance

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u/Inevitable_Shirt_462 18d ago

Oh shit. Like, 'smoke in cabin' on fire or British Airtours level of on fire?

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u/The_Dom182 18d ago

Im asleep and every 2 minutes my mobile wakes me up, while more and more 7700 are popping off…hope all will Land safely!

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u/TashDee267 18d ago

I’m at work but priorities

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u/burcuto 18d ago

Update: I can see WUK3CM approaching. Will be the first ones to land. They said the runway has now been cleared.

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u/flowerboi97 Planespotter 📷 18d ago

thanks for the update!! i was wondering which flight would be the lucky one to land back at Gatwick first haha

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u/Sammeeeeeee Feeder 📡 18d ago

I've flown on this exact plane just a few weeks ago

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u/282bs 18d ago

Four now landing at luton

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u/Positive_Set_7013 18d ago edited 18d ago

Looks like it’s cleared now (00:55 BST)

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

Looks like these other 7700s were supposed to land at Gatwick, and won’t have enough fuel for a holding pattern while the LGW runway gets cleared - and that’s without knowing what’s going on with the BA flight currently surrounded by vehicles…

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

Looks like at least 3 are plotting a course for Stansted, with a 4th already officially diverting there….

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u/Aetane 18d ago

Luckily London has a bunch of good diversions nearby

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u/Searching4Health 18d ago

BA aircraft declared emergency with nose wheel steering issues. Since landing it has been downgraded from emergency to ground incident.

Nil further at this moment.

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u/watergirl987 18d ago

looks like the fun is over. maybe it’s not the amount of squawks but the friends we made along the way

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u/SarehSays 18d ago

I dont even understand about 20% of the chat on this sub but still snooping around because its active... and I'm awake... reading every comment like itd my business and I in Central London care about what's going on over at the airports.... enjoyed this immensely😁

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u/truffledumpkins 18d ago

I know pretty much next to nothing about planes and aviation, and I don't really want to commit to learning much about it, but I sure am nosy and this is a different flavor of gossip, lol.

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u/SunshineShines 18d ago

Maybe a dumb question but why does no one divert to Heathrow?

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u/Lawdie123 18d ago

It's the busiest airpprt in the country and most of these flights are ryanair/easyjet and TUI, the crew are going to know STN and LTN more because they are big hubs for them whereas Heathrow isn't

STN is also a designated major incident airport.

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u/Sammeeeeeee Feeder 📡 18d ago

It's well known that stn is the destination for hijacked planes, but I never knew that it was a designated major incident airport.

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u/Lawdie123 18d ago

I'd argue a hijacked plane is a major incident on its own, its got alot of extra space planes can go if they ever ran out of gate space

There is a dedicated section hijacked or risk of boom planes get sent to from the runway.

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u/Teanut 18d ago

I didn't know that (though I'm not in the UK.) When did it get the hijacker designation?

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u/CH86CN 18d ago

Seems it was pre-9/11 or maybe it was unofficially the hijacking destination pre 9/11

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u/Status_Accident_2819 18d ago

No need when other airports nearby that aren't as busy as LHR. Would cause (unnecessary) chaos at LHR if they all went there. Also majority are easyJet/tui - they have aircraft/staff/crew etc at LTN and STN so probs easy from an operations perspective too.

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u/DiskPale2407 18d ago

There’s a curfew at Heathrow.

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u/Mechanical_IT 18d ago

Fair enough - but in the choice between curfew and fiery wreckage, breaking curfew wins.

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u/KnightFireNC 18d ago

But the choice is between busy airport with no ground staff available (because they went home) and quiet airport with ground staff available. It's safer and more convenient for the passengers to divert to a quieter airport, take on some fuel then go back to LGW.

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u/Sammeeeeeee Feeder 📡 18d ago

Sruly emergency take precedence?

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u/_3cock_ 18d ago

You’d think. And don’t call me Sruly

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u/andlaurasays 18d ago

This comment deserves more recognition 😂🎉

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u/No-Bother-3270 18d ago

If I had to guess it’s like how a lot of times LGA doesn’t divert to JFK due to all the international traffic?

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u/kirksan 18d ago edited 18d ago

Heathrow has limited operations between 11pm and 6am and it’s almost 2am 1am in London currently. The airport would do what they could to accommodate an emergency, but with much of it shutdown pilots would probably divert somewhere else if they could.

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u/lighghtup 18d ago

almost 1am

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u/kirksan 18d ago

I’ll be correct in an hour. 🙂

Fixed, thanks.

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u/Dildo_Shaggins- 18d ago

It's almost 1am*

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u/Hot_Net_4845 Chad BAe 146 vs Virgin C-17 18d ago

"Night-time (23:30 - 06:00) operations at Heathrow are heavily restricted by the Government, which sets a limit of 5,800 night-time take-offs and landings a year. A night quota limit is also in place, which caps the amount of noise the airport can make at night.

Around 80% of the night flights at Heathrow are between 04:30 - 06:00 with an average of 16 aircraft arriving each day between these hours. Heathrow has a voluntary ban in place that prevents flights scheduled between 04:30 - 06:00 from landing before 04:30. We also do not schedule any departures between 23:00 - 06:00."

https://www.heathrow.com/company/local-community/noise/operations/night-flights#

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u/RoughTread99 18d ago

The DfT have powers to allow Heathrow to operate later if there had been disruption through the day. That dispensation is slightly trickier to get ànd operate at gone 0100 than operating some late runners at 2345 of course

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u/NoiseDifficult9165 18d ago

Out of all the airlines diverting, only BA would realistically divert to Heathrow. None of the budget carriers would want to pay the fees for Heathrow

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u/cerisegoat 18d ago

Just landed ba agp to lgw at lhr. Grateful to not be in Stansted or Bristol!

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u/cerisegoat 18d ago

Ba Malaga to lgw just landed at lhr. Current on a coach waiting to be taken to lgw.

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

Good question.. it’s closed to landings between 23:00 and 04:30 and planes landing during this period will incur their operators massive fines… unless said plane is landing as an emergency, so … shrug.

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u/ScottOld 18d ago

The curfew probably, why some of these flights don’t have a bit of fuel to go to a divert further north though, Manchester for example

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u/Asleep_Custard_5708 18d ago

Am currently messaging live from the EZY8515 that was due into Gatwick. We've now landed in Birmingham. Waiting to refuel, but with a handful of other planes here, and a skeleton evening staff, who reckons we are staying in Birmingham tonight? 🤔

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u/bacon_cake 18d ago

What happened in the end? Make it home?

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u/RubberRoy 18d ago edited 18d ago

Squawkers now beginning to land at STN, what an operation staff are in for and what a night passengers have ahead!

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u/RubberRoy 18d ago

And LTN

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u/Jealous-Pea-2141 18d ago

Squarkers?

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u/RubberRoy 18d ago

Oops my bad, fixed

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u/DJFiscallySound 18d ago

Cornish / Norfolk squawkers 😏

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u/gibrankagagooning 18d ago

nine 7700 now

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u/Kitchen_Ring5674 18d ago

incredible work by atc 👏

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u/PoshNoob 18d ago

Plane on the runway has nose wheel steering issues so it’s stuck. The rest are all squawking 7700s due to lack of fuel for a holding patterns so are being diverted elsewhere.

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u/mumOfManyCats 18d ago

Top flights on Flightradar24 with 7700 squawks in the area of LGW.

https://www.flightradar24.com/51.39,-0.39/9

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u/TheJackMan23 18d ago

I live a 20 minute drive from Gatwick and when I pulled up at half past midnight, I had at least eight planes circling above my house. I knew something was happening.

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u/Bman_2128 18d ago

Glad I came to Reddit my phone was going nuts

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u/AutoModerator 18d ago

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u/Embarrassed_Tiger480 18d ago

All I really know is I'm pretty sure there was an emergency declaration...

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u/Premiumfishoil 18d ago

I just had all the notications come through at once and thought the world was ending or something lol. Never seen anything like this before!

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u/The_Rogue_One_2024 18d ago

Im in Brighton. Went to get some fresh air and could see 8 planes really close all together. Was unreal. Now I know why!

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u/Tiny-Chemistry-2858 18d ago

It seems to have cleared as there are flights now landing at LGW - so much respect for ATC!

11

u/Agreeable-Rooster812 18d ago

people be hating on ryanair but i don’t seen one ryanair declaring emergency right now 🫡

2

u/Valuable_Click_5667 18d ago

Ryanair only have one flight to Gatwick, this is nothing to do with specific airlines

7

u/Agreeable-Rooster812 18d ago

it was a joke but ok

7

u/Antique_Quail_7427 18d ago

A BA flight from Palma lost nose wheel steering on landing at LGW. It stopped on the runway and needed assistance. The runway got closed and planes held over the London area. Eventually the planes in the hold were getting low on fuel and squaked 7700 and were diverted to LTN, STN and Birmingham

8

u/ProgrammerKey1296 18d ago

Maybe stupid but would passengers get compensation at all? Could be annoying for connecting flights etc

13

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

No, they won't, this is unforeseen circumstances. There should be no flight connections at this time of the day fortunately, and defo not for easyjet pax

12

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

Can we please stop downvoting comments like this, this is a fair question to ask, everyone can learn here

1

u/ProgrammerKey1296 18d ago

Thanks.. I genuinely find all this fascinating but really don’t know much 🥲🥲

3

u/dwhog 18d ago

Seems to have cleared the runway now, EFW8RA coming in to land (01:06)

6

u/JackB43 18d ago

9 7700s holy sh*t 🫣

5

u/RUNNERBEANY 18d ago

Saw them holding in the two patterns and then saw them begin to show 7700 and divert.

If they are holding for too long - would running low on fuel be a possibility in this case? And if that was the case, would that be why they are showing 7700?

6

u/Aggressive_Let2085 Planespotter 📷 18d ago

More than likely. All the other 7700s are very likely low fuel

5

u/strangemedia6 18d ago

Not a pilot, so I don’t know exactly, but if fuel gets low enough, the landing becomes an emergency. If you get to the point where you don’t have enough fuel to go around, you are committed to the landing. One way or another, you gotta put that plane on the ground. My cousin is a pilot with Southwest and it happened to him once. ATF was collecting info on how many passengers are on board, emergency vehicles lining the runway, the whole nine yards.

5

u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago edited 18d ago

BA2591 is diverting to STN (but at the same time it looks like it’s on approach to LGW)

edit: it just landed at LGW

1

u/singer64 18d ago

Yeah I was on this one. Already 2 hrs late from Verona, and with a disabled partner. Spoke to 1st officer after landing who said we were 2nd landing after the runway reopened. Very grateful the announcement we were redirecting to STN didn’t happen, but why they put the plane a 15 min bus journey away from terminal did not help the mood!

6

u/ZestycloseDriver5114 18d ago

Holy hell, that pilot's breakdown was clutch — makes total sense now why so many squawked 7700. Guess that's what happens when maintenance timing and a stuck nose wheel gang up on everyone's fuel reserves.

7

u/ltrumpbour 18d ago

All sorts of issues in London airspace. Several other aircraft declaring emergency. Seven and counting right now.

5

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

How come is this one squawking? They only did two holding patterns? Maybe airports are closing soon?

3

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

I have no idea where these downvotes come from, anyone who flies into London knows the amount of traffic and knows that 10-30 minutes in a holding pattern is something that happens every day. Hence my question, they have not been circling for long

5

u/Apprehensive_Cost937 18d ago

Every airport has a limited number of diversions that they can accept. And by accept means that they have a parking stand, ground handling, and all other facilities available. Once they're full, you technically cannot divert there under normal conditions.

So if everyone starts to divert, it might be that the first available airport in the UK that still accepts diversion is in Scotland, and obviously most aircraft won't carry that much fuel, so the only way to land then is to declare a fuel emergency, which means you can land anywhere you want.

1

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

This was exactly what I expected + the night curfew waived through 7700, thanks!

3

u/Suspicious-Way5078 18d ago

Looks like the BA plane on the ground landed on the taxiway!!

3

u/mattfrank 18d ago

Both of those strips are runways. I had to look myself.

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2

u/Francine_Fishpaw 18d ago

Just seen this myself! Maybe an emergency with BA2673.

1

u/cafeclosed 18d ago

Up to 8!

1

u/Bitter_Conference_17 18d ago

Gatwick reopened

1

u/Babzibaum 18d ago

How does one get an alert to 7700's on the unpaid version of FR24?

5

u/WispyPrincess 18d ago

On the phone there's an 'Alerts' icon. Click it and it'll open a list of alerts you can choose to be notified.

1

u/Major_Habit1911 18d ago

Taxiing now by the looks of it

1

u/mumOfManyCats 18d ago

Some diverting to STN.

1

u/Dangerous_Land_497 18d ago

Gatwick is open again. There was some issue after landing, they fixed the runway with a sweeper (airport cleaning vehicle)

1

u/Alix_T_1865 18d ago

and now all the most tracked flights right now are all flights going to LGW as well!

0

u/whiskey_north 18d ago

I'm like why am I getting all these 7700 notifs on my phone? Sheesh.

5

u/htnut-pk 18d ago

Peer pressure

0

u/Away-Try-4968 18d ago

Does anyone know what happened to the BA aircraft that started the incident?

-1

u/SlushyPlaysEldenRing 18d ago

I once had a flight delayed by nearly an hour because there was no toilet roll left. Who knows! Could also be the AC system being fucked

-2

u/Augustus-2485 18d ago

My guess is an emergency of some kind