Earlier today, an Aer Lingus Airbus A330 issued the squawk code ‘7700’ while in the closing stages of a transatlantic flight from the West Coast of the United States to the Republic of Ireland. This quickly caught the attention of the online aviation community, leading the flight in question to briefly become the most-tracked service in the world on Flightradar24. In recent times, this has typically been reserved for flights in the Middle East.
Squawk codes are used by flight crews to keep air traffic controllers up to date with the current status of their aircraft. 7700 is easily the most famous and recognizable of these four-digit numbers, as it is used to indicate an emergency. This can often result in an aircraft being given priority handling by air traffic control, which may well have been the case with Aer Lingus’ Airbus A330 this morning, given that it arrived in Dublin well ahead of schedule.
One A330’s Five Minutes Of Fame
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Aer Lingus flight EI60 is a regularly scheduled transatlantic commercial passenger service that originates at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in northern California. Its destination is Dublin Airport (DUB) in the Republic of Ireland, with Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus being the only airline to connect these two hubs on a nonstop basis. Towards the end of its intercontinental journey this morning, the aircraft, an A330, squawked 7700.
This caused the flight to be highlighted on tracking websites such as Flightradar24, leading to it briefly becoming the most-tracked service in the world on such platforms. Enthusiasts on Reddit used ACARS messaging data to ascertain that a medical emergency had prompted the squawk code, with communications from the aircraft suggesting that a passenger was receiving Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). An Aer Lingus spokesperson said:
“Aer Lingus flight EI060 from San Francisco to Dublin was met by emergency services at Dublin Airport due to a medical emergency onboard.”
An Early Arrival
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Data from Flightradar24 suggests that, while Aer Lingus flight EI60 is consistently operated by Airbus A330 widebody twinjets, its schedule varies somewhat from day to day. Indeed, in recent weeks, it has predominantly been scheduled to leave San Francisco at 6:20 pm local time, but Sunday’s iteration’s planned departure was 7:20. When the IATA Summer season starts, 5:40 pm looks set to be the most common departure time for EI60.
In any case, regardless of the planned departure time, the flight consistently has an overall scheduled block time of ten hours and five minutes. Of course, this duration factors in aspects such as taxi time, and, as such, recent iterations have typically spent just over nine hours in the air. However, as detailed in the table below, the most recent iteration was only airborne for eight hours and 44 minutes, resulting in a very early touchdown at DUB.
Aer Lingus Flight EI60
Per Flightradar24
Departure from San Francisco
Arrival in Dublin
Planned
7:20 pm
12:25 pm +1
Actual
7:25 pm
11:09 am +1
Indeed, after first squawking 7700 at 10:38 am local time, it was only 31 minutes later, at 11:09 am, that the aircraft touched down in Dublin. Given the urgent nature of its on-board situation, it was likely given priority handling and a direct route into the Irish capital, with its landing occurring 76 minutes ahead of schedule.
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Aer Lingus’ Second-Longest US Route
Credit:Â Great Circle Map
According to present scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Aer Lingus has scheduled a grand total of 603 one-way rotations on its routes from the Republic of Ireland to the United States of America this month. Of these various transatlantic corridors, the route from Dublin to San Francisco is the second-longest, at 5,098 miles (8,204 km). Only Los Angeles (LAX) is more distant (5,181 miles / 8338 km).
Rounding out the podium in terms of distance is Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in the US federal state of Nevada, which is 4,954 miles (7,973 km) from Dublin. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the West Coast, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is located some 4,540 miles (7,306 km) away.