A military transporter plane sent out an emergency alert as it flew close to Bristol. The A400M issued an urgent "7700" to Air Traffic Control (ATC) as it flew over South Gloucestershire at midday yesterday (May 9) before making landing at an RAF airbase.
The emergency code is used to let people on the ground and other pilots know there is a serious issue on board and that the aircraft is in need of assistance, reports Gloucestershire Live. Flight Tracker shows the Airbus Atlas was in the air for around 40 minutes before its urgent landing at RAF Brize Norton.
The squawk, an aviation term for the codes used to communicate with ATCs, was immediately put out following a rapid drop in altitude. Flight trackers show the A400M dropping suddenly from around 2500ft to 1750ft in under a minute.
