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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Iona Young

Passenger jet diverted to Edinburgh after pilot declares midair emergency

A United Airlines plane bound for London has been diverted to Edinburgh after calling a general emergency midair on Wednesday, March 12.

The incident took place on an aircraft flying from Chicago to London and required them to divert the flight to Edinburgh Airport due to poor weather.

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Images on social media showed the passenger jet circling Gatwick Airport a number of times before heading towards the capital due to strong winds.

The plane called a squawk 7700 in the air and landed in Edinburgh at around 2.50pm - an hour after its scheduled arrival time in London.

Yellow weather warnings had been put in place by the Met Office across south-east and south-west England covering the airport.

In its warning, the forecaster, which reported that strong winds with severe coastal gales could hit the south and west, said: “West or north-west winds are expected to increase during Wednesday morning, then remain strong for much of the day."

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They added: “Gusts of 40-50mph are expected widely within the warning area, but some coastal areas, especially in parts of south and west Wales and Cornwall, could see gusts above 60-70mph during Wednesday morning.

"Outbreaks of heavy rain or showers will accompany the strong winds.”

A spokesperson for Edinburgh Airport said: "We accepted a divert due to weather in London. It landed without incident."

A spokesperson for United Airlines added: "Our team at Edinburgh Airport is providing assistance to customers of United flight 938 (Chicago O’Hare-London Heathrow) today, which diverted to Edinburgh due to adverse weather conditions at London Heathrow.

"The aircraft landed safely at 3:03pm (local time). We are providing our customers with meal vouchers and hotel accommodation and are working on alternative arrangements for our customers to complete their journeys at the earliest opportunity. "

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