A British Airways Airbus A320 was involved in a serious in-flight incident while approaching London Heathrow on 6 July after operating a scheduled flight from Düsseldorf. During the initial approach, one of the aircraft’s Air Data Reference Systems failed, causing the flight control system to revert from Normal Law to Alternate Law. As a result, several automatic flight protection functions were no longer available and the aircraft generated a stall warning.
In response, the flight crew discontinued the approach, declared a Pan-Pan emergency and entered a holding pattern to assess the situation. According to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), the aircraft remained under control throughout the event while the pilots evaluated the failure and prepared for another landing attempt.
The second approach also proved challenging. At an altitude of around 3,000 feet, another stall warning was triggered. The crew carried out a recovery manoeuvre, during which the aircraft briefly descended to approximately 2,200 feet before stabilising the approach again. The emergency status was then upgraded to a Mayday.
The Airbus A320 landed safely on runway 27L at London Heathrow and none of the passengers or crew members were injured. British media reported that the captain may have taken control from the first officer after the initial warning, however the AAIB has not confirmed who was flying the aircraft at the time.
The cause of the Air Data Reference System failure remains unknown and is currently under investigation. British Airways stated that it is fully cooperating with the AAIB but declined to provide further details while the investigation is ongoing.
