This is the dramatic moment that a pilot from American Airlines passengers on the way to London told that their plane would perform a U-turn and go back to the US.
Vlucht AA730 left Charlotte in North Carolina at 7.30 pm Edt last night (11.30 pm GMT) and should land in Heathrow more than seven hours later at 7 am GMT (3 hours EDT).
The Boeing 777 made the eastern edge of Canada, but passengers then noticed on their scenes that the flight path card showed that it had taken a turn of 180 degrees.
The travelers belonged to the 200,000 whose flights from or from Heathrow were taught or diverted after the airport was closed all day after a fire in a nearby electric substation.
In the clip the pilot can be heard: 'Some of you have noticed on the TV screen that we have made a turn of 180 degrees. We go back to Charlotte.
'Let me tell you what is going on – there was a huge fire on the Power substation in London Heathrow. The runways have light, but there is no power in the terminals at all and they will not accept flights to London Heathrow for the next 22 hours. '
He added: 'Gatwick and Manchester did not accept flights and then they changed thoughts and said they accept flights.
“But we are so far away from those airports that by the time we get into Gatwick or Manchester, there will be no room for our plane because all other planes distract to Manchester and Gatwick and that is why we return to Charlotte.”
A pilot from the American Airlines told passengers flying from Charlotte that they went back
The plane was on its way to London Heathrow when the pilot said it would return to the US
The flight of the American Airlines had taken the eastern edge of Canada, but had to go back
While passengers could be heard at the news, the pilot added: “We will be on the floor in three hours and about 24 minutes.”
This morning they land at about 2.30 pm EDT in Charlotte in Charlotte (6.30 am GMT), only half an hour before they were originally due to the country in Heathrow today – which means that they had completed a 3500 -mile flight for nothing.
Passengers on other flights also posted videos on social media of their planes that were diverted, including someone who traveled from Malaysia to Heathrow who was eventually passed on to Amsterdam.
Another was on a flight that you returned to Kuala Lumpur shortly after taking off.
A third traveled from Thailand to Heathrow, but ended up in a hotel in Frankfurt after he had been diverted on the way.
Passengers are now warned to expect a few days of disruption because of the Heathrow closure, and many aircraft and cockpit bodies are now at the wrong location.
Online Flight Tracking Service Flighttradar24 said that today the closure would hit more than 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow. This includes 679 planned to land and 678 because of the airport take off.
It said that 120 flights to the airport were in the air when the closure was announced.
Another passenger traveled from Thailand to Heathrow, but ended up in a hotel in Frankfurt
A transformer in the North Hyde Electrical Substation in West London on fire last night
Smoke remains today from the North Hyde Electrical Substation in West -Londen in West -London
Parked planes and an empty runway near London Heathrow Terminal 5 today after it was closed
Flights were diverted to Gatwick, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Shannon airport in Ireland. Some were also reversed and returned to airports in Canada.
London Gatwick accepted seven diverted flights from locations such as Singapore, Johannesburg, Lagos, Cape Town and Doha originally intended for Heathrow.
Shannon Airport in Co Clare accepted six distractions from Toronto, Atlanta, Bridgetown Barbados, Boston, Orlando and Newark.
The metropolitan police said that “there is currently no indication of cheating” with regard to fire, but “we are currently preserving an open mind.”
The armed forces said that his counter terrorism command would lead research, given the impact of the fire 'on critical national infrastructure'.
Thousands of houses were left without electricity and more than 100 people were evacuated after a transformer in the Northern Hyde -electric substation was set on fire in West -London.
The airport, which is supplied by the substation, said it was one of the power outage.
Heathrow is the largest airport in the UK, with more than 83.9 million passengers traveling through his terminals in 2024.
Passengers are confronted with Reischaos today after Heathrow airport had to close due to a fire
Firefighters who wear masks this morning on the site of the Great Brand in West London
An almost empty arrival room in Heathrow Terminal 4 in London this morning after the closure
A screen on Hatton Cross Underground Station today tells passengers that Heathrow is closed
A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'Heathrow experiences a considerable power outage at the airport due to a large fire on a nearby electric substation. Although fire staff responds to the incident, we have no clarity about when power can be reliably restored.
'To maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues, we have no choice but to close Heathrow until 11.59 pm on March 21, 2025. We expect significant disruption and passengers in no circumstance to travel to the airport until the airport reopens.
'We will offer an update when more information about the resumption of the operations is available. We know that this will be disappointing for passengers and we want to reassure that we work as hard as possible to resolve the situation. '
American Airlines said about his all passengers traveling to, through or from Heathrow, any change costs will show as long as they bought their ticket yesterday; are planned to travel today or tomorrow; And can travel between tomorrow and next Wednesday.
Passengers cannot change their origin or destination city and have to book again in the same Huttype or pay for the difference. Changes must be booked by tomorrow.
