Air France Flight Makes U-turn Over Atlantic Ocean After Pilot Sends Out Signal Mayday, Mayday, Mayday

NEED TO KNOW

• An Air France flight carried out a turnaround over the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, Aug. 19

• The Paris-bound flight returned to JFK International Airport after the pilot reported a proper engine failure

• The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident

An Air France flight departing New York’s JFK International Airport turned around over the Atlantic Ocean after declaring an emergency.

According to flight tracker FlightConscious, Air France flight AF9 left JFK at 12:28 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Aug. 19. As the Paris-bound Boeing 777-300ER made its means over the Atlantic, it diverted back to its origin at 1:14 a.m.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the pilot declared in an audio recording obtained by LiveATC.internet. The pilot later confirmed to air site visitors controllers the airplane was experiencing a proper engine failure. This prompted crews to declare an emergency squawk 7700 — an worldwide misery code.

After stating the character of the emergency, the pilot requested a return to JFK. The airplane, carrying 311 passengers and crew and 6.5 hours value of fuel, made a proper flip back in direction of the Empire State.

After initiating the turnaround, the flight made a direct return, touchdown at 2:15 a.m. The whole flight lasted just over two hours.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the incident in a assertion, explaining the flight “returned safely” after crews reported “a possible engine issue.” The company confirmed it might examine the incident.

Air France didn’t immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for remark.

Earlier this week, an American Airlines pilot declared a mayday shortly after takeoff due to “multiple failures” onboard.

On the night of Sunday, Aug. 17, American Airlines flight 2616 left Boston Logan International Airport. About 10 minutes into the flight, the crews diverted the Philadelphia-bound airplane back to Boston.

“Boston, American 2616 we’re lowering to 8,000, declaring a mayday,” the pilot says in an audio recording posted by LiveATC.internet. “We need to return back to Boston. We have a loss of the autopilot, loss of auto-thrust and we have a position disagree between both of our [flight management systems]”

They added: “We have multiple failures including navigation and automation as well.”

The FAA confirmed the flight “returned safely” to Boston Logan around 7:30 p.m., per a assertion. According to the company, crews “reported a possible flight system issue.”

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A spokesperson for American Airlines confirmed a “maintenance issue” onboard.

“The flight landed safely and taxied to the gate under its own power,” they shared in a assertion. “The aircraft has been taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team.”

They added: “We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the inconvenience.”

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