A Virgin Atlantic flight, flight VS221, from Heathrow to St Lucia took off last Saturday as usual before running into technical issues during its journey and being forced into making an emergency landing
A plane was forced into an emergency landing after it encountered issues during a flight, after taking off from Heathrow.
The Virgin Atlantic flight was on its way to St Lucia, last Saturday, when it had to demand priority landing after running into technical issues.
Pilots of the flight VS221, a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300, decided to make the call, with 187 passengers on board. The plane was given priority landing by air traffic controllers at Hewanorra international airport where it landed safely at 5:38 pm local time on Friday December 17.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: “Our flight, the VS221 travelling from London Heathrow to St Lucia on 17 December requested a priority landing into St Lucia due to a minor technical issue. The safety and welfare of our customers and crew will always be our number one priority. The aircraft landed safely and all customers disembarked as normal.”
This is not the first time that the airline has experienced problems in St Lucia. Back in 2013 another Virgin Atlantic Airbus A330-300 flying from Tobago suffered substantial damage to its landing gear when it touched down on a flooded runway at Hewanorra International Airport in Saint Lucia on Christmas Eve. No injuries occurred.
According to reports of the incident, flight VS-98 was on its final approach to Saint Lucia at about 7:40 pm and had just received landing clearance when a nearby river burst its banks from torrential rains and flooded the airport, washing away the weather station and depositing mud and water on the runway. The aircraft touched down on the flooded runway and managed to come to a stop.
A local official said at the time that the entire airport terminal building was flooded with muddy water.
A spokesman for St Lucia Air And Seaports Authority sad: ” I am happy to say that everything went well last Saturday and there is nothing to report. The flight landed without incident.”
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
