n198ua

FRA-SFO currently holding over the North Sea and will eventually be diverting to LHR. No add’l information at this time.

RobOnLI

Current as of 103pm ET:

0927/20SEP
P FRA/OUT 528P E00.02 ☨
P FRA/OFF 548P
P LHR/ETA 631P FLAG STOP-INTERM-ETD 651P PREVIOUS STOP FRA
F LHR/ETD 711P
P SFO/ETA 744P E00.16
F SFO/ETA 1016P L02.16
D CRC//SFO NO HOTELS-CHECK CXN
D FCF/DVRT LHR ENRT FRA-SFO A/

SKED FRA ORIG 530P GTD Z25 SHIP 2135☨
SKED FRA ORIG 530P GTD Z25 SHIP 2135
SFO 800P TERM GTA INTL

-RM

sabbasolo

That's interesting, can you elaborate? What each line means?

Lux Flyer

P FRA/OUT 528P E00.02 ☨ = Time all doors closed and brake released
P FRA/OFF 548P = Time plane was in the air
P LHR/ETA 631P FLAG STOP-INTERM-ETD 651P PREVIOUS STOP FRA = estimated time of arrival into LHR
F LHR/ETD 711P = estimated departure time from London
P SFO/ETA 744P E00.16 = original estimated arrival into SFO
F SFO/ETA 1016P L02.16 = revised estimated arrival into SFO
D CRC//SFO NO HOTELS-CHECK CXN = message with revenue control teams either saying no hotels available in SFO or that isn't a covered reason for hotels and to check/hold space for passengers who are connecting in SFO to be reaccomodated. Likely preliminary based on whatever reason was entered for diversion
D FCF/DVRT LHR ENRT FRA-SFO A/ = message stating flight is diverting to LHR
SKED FRA ORIG 530P GTD Z25 SHIP 2135☨ = scheduled departure time, departure gate, and airplane number assigned
SKED FRA ORIG 530P GTD Z25 SHIP 2135
SFO 800P TERM GTA INTL = scheduled arrival time/gate

n198ua

Is there ever a time when a reason code is listed? 40min on the ground I’d think medical or disruptive pax?

drewguy

Flight Stats is showing a departure from Heathrow and arrrival at SFO about 2h30m late . . . which if accurate suggests a medical emergency.

HNLbasedFlyer

FA friend working FRA-SFO today was just diverted to LHR, it is a 777-300. She had no initial info on the diversion - flight status says Aircraft Maintenance Inspection

mduell

They took off very light, direct climb to FL380. Weird.

Lux Flyer

Flight has since been cancelled in LHR according to United website. Appears to be an additional flight UA3041 departing LHR-SFO tomorrow morning at 1000. Seems more like a maintenance issue (which would also fit with holding over the North Sea to burn fuel) instead of a medical emergency which wouldn't have involved a hold.

findark

Yes, reason for diversion would be listed after A/ on the divert line in FLIFO. It is often left blank.

FLIFO always fills in an unrealistic ETD for diversion before being updated later - in this case, with a cancel. Website says mx.

RobOnLI

Apparently now it's cancelled out of LHR.

-RM

CDKing

I got alert on flightradar 24 earlier today that the flight declared an emergency (squak 7700) before circling and landing at LHR

LarryJ

It was a mechanical problem with which they could not continue the flight. The circling was to dump fuel down to maximum landing weight. There was initially a chance that the flight could refuel and continue, if the problem was fixed quickly, but there was not much time to spare. That's why it originally showed continuing. The cancellation was driven by the crew timing out and having to be put into rest prior to continuing to the SFO.

tcdtcd

LarryJ -
thank you for the explanation. What was the nature of the mechanical issue, if you can tell us?

LarryJ

It was a problem with the fire detection system on one of the engines. Shouldn't affect the operation of the aircraft but it's like some of your smoke detectors in your building aren't working so you wouldn't know right away in the unlikely event of a fire. Rarely see a complete failure like that as each engine (and the APU) have a redundant system with two fire loops (sensors). I've never flown the 777 so don't know the specific details for it.

On the airplanes that I have flown, each engine (and APU) has two fire loops which are individually tested before each flight (you might have heard the fire bells during boarding during a test). There's also two fire bottles, each of which can be discharged to either engine; or both to one. The APU would have it's own fire bottle as would the cargo compartments (which operate on a completely different system for both detection and protection). We can fly with one of the two fire loops out on an engine but not with both of them out. Both may be required for oceanic operations but I'd have to look that up.