A British Airways Airbus A380 spun no fewer than 43 times off the coast of Singapore before turning back.
The aircraft, registration G-XLED, took off from Singapore Changi International Airport on its way to London Heathrow on the night of Monday to Tuesday this week, 3:10 am local time, almost four later than initially planned. The A380 took off in a south-westerly direction. However, that didn’t last long.
43 laps
The machine returned halfway to Malaysia, the country bordering Singapore. That was because according to Paddle Your Own Canoe a problem with the weather radar occurred. The weather radar is important to detect turbulence and if it does not function properly, it cannot detect the moving moisture particles with all the consequences that entails. The pilots decided to return to the departure airport. However, that did not happen without a hitch. The A380 had more than thirteen hours of fuel with it before the start of the flight to London Heathrow, plus a buffer for contingencies, and could therefore not easily make an unplanned landing with a desired landing weight. As a result, the A380 made approximately 43 laps over the east coast of Singapore to burn fuel.
Back to Singapore
Four hours after take-off the A380 landed at Singapore airport. The passengers left the plane and the flight was cancelled. However, the British airline was unable to immediately accommodate their passengers on another flight, after which hotel accommodation was arranged for them. The G-XLED would still leave for London Heathrow a day later. The Superjumbo finally departed for the English capital at 11:45 PM with flight number BA12.
