A British Airways flight was forced to issue a mayday distress call while on its approach to Heathrow Airport earlier this month. The incident, which occurred on July 6, involved an Airbus A320 aircraft traveling from Dusseldorf, Germany. According to reports from France's accident investigation authority, the BEA, the flight experienced a data system failure that triggered an initial stall warning as it approached the airport.
Following the first warning, the flight crew transitioned the aircraft into a flight mode known as "alternate law," which disables certain automated flight protection systems. A second stall warning subsequently occurred at an altitude of 3,000 feet, an area experts suggest was likely only a few miles from the destination airport. The crew had already initiated an urgency call, which was then upgraded to a mayday to signal imminent danger. The aircraft eventually landed without further incident.
The UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has confirmed it is currently investigating the event as a "serious incident." The investigation is being conducted as a correspondence-based inquiry, meaning no field team will be dispatched to carry out a physical investigation. A British Airways spokesperson stated that the airline is fully cooperating with the AAIB but noted that they are legally restricted from providing further comment at this stage.
Aviation safety investigator David Gleave remarked that while urgency calls can be made for various reasons, such as medical emergencies involving passengers, it is highly unusual for a flight to report a significant technical failure on board. The BEA website initially attributed the statement regarding the incident to the AAIB, though the British agency would not explicitly confirm the source of that specific statement, instead issuing its own confirmation that a serious incident occurred on July 6.
The crew then flew the aircraft in a different mode called "alternate law", which removes some automated flight protection systems. Another stall warning then occurred at 3,000 feet – which experts say was likely to have been just miles away from the airport.
"You could have sick passengers on board who need urgent medical attention… so it's up to the captains' discretion as to what they call, but its very unusual for it to be a significant failure on board the aeroplane."
