British Airways flight’s emergency landing at Sydney Airport was false alarm

It’s been revealed a British Airways plane’s mayday call and emergency landing at Sydney Airport was a false alarm, with engineers giving the plane the all-clear to fly again.

The British Airways passenger flight BA16 was on its way to Singapore and made the emergency return to Sydney Airport within an hour of its  take-off on Monday afternoon.

The pilot made a mayday call, alerting Sydney Airport’s air traffic controllers he needed to return to the airport for an emergency landing.

A mayday call is the highest distress signal a pilot can send to alert air traffic controllers of a potentially life-threatening emergency.

Footage from the airport shows a convoy of emergency vehicles arriving to meet the plane including aviation fire trucks. (Supplied: @LeviFlights)

In a statement British Airways said “the aircraft returned to Sydney as a precaution after reports of a technical issue” but didn’t disclose what the issue was though the ABC understands it was a suspected fuel leak.

Passengers who were on board the flight told the ABC the pilot had been “very calm” but made an announcement over the plane’s intercom about smelling fumes onboard.

“There was talk of smoke in the cockpit, ” one woman said. “So, half an hour out ..and then we came half an hour back.

“I’m glad it happened when it did and not five hours out on the flight path, where would we be now?,” she said on Monday night .

Dublin-bound Brian Trainor said “we got informed that we had to return to Sydney but there was very little to tell that there was anything wrong.

The impacted British Airline passengers in a queue waiting to be assisted with alternative flights. (ABC News: Digby Werthmuller)

“The captain said something about being able to smell fuel or something in the cockpit,” he said .

He said he couldn’t smell anything himself while sitting in the plane’s aisle.

He said he was hoping to stay a night in the airport’s hotel. “This is going to take ages to get through here,” he said, gesturing to the passenger queues.

One woman described the pilot during the episode as “very calm”.

A British Airways’ spokesperson told the ABC after the plane landed safely at the airport, engineers conducted a thorough examination and found no issue with it. He said it was deemed safe and cleared to fly again.

However, a decision to cancel the actual flight was made because it was quicker to rebook most of the affected passengers on alternative flights to allow them to continue with their journeys.

“Only around a handful of passengers will stay an extra night in Sydney,” he said. 

He said around 200 people had been on board the original flight that was forced to make the emergency landing.

In a recording of the call, the pilot onboard the flight can be heard saying “Mayday Speed Bird16”. (Supplied: @LeviFlights)

He said the pilot’s mayday call and emergency landing was done as a safety precaution.  

“It was the completely right thing to do, safety is always the priority,” he said.

Aviation sources described it to the ABC as a “false alarm”

“It was not a fuel leak issue, it was a fumes event, but it turned out to be nothing,” they said.

The flight landed safely with a convoy of emergency vehicles including aviation firetrucks rushing to the scene, in case they were needed.

In a recording of the Mayday call, the pilot onboard the flight can be heard calmly saying “Mayday Speed Bird16 …I’m just about to come fully established on 43 left ..we will have to stop for a minute after landing.”  

The air traffic controller at Sydney Airport responded: “G’day copied, Mayday acknowledged”.

A passenger told the ABC they had flown for half an hour before the plane had to return. (ABC News)

Sydney Airport says the plane was “met by emergency services as part of standard procedures”.

Footage from the airport shows a convoy of emergency vehicles arriving to meet the plane including aviation fire trucks.

Sydney Airport said there had been no impact to airport operations after the emergency landing was made.

A British Airways spokesman said passengers were entitled to apply for compensation due to the delays, under the airline’s legal obligations.