A British Airways flight declared a mayday distress call while arriving at Heathrow Airport on July 6. The Airbus A320, which had departed from Dusseldorf, Germany, experienced two separate stall warnings during the landing sequence before successfully reaching the tarmac safely.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) of the UK has classified the event as a serious incident and is conducting a formal inquiry. According to reports from the French accident investigation authority, the BEA, the aircraft encountered a data system failure that prompted an initial stall alert. The flight crew subsequently engaged an alternate flight mode, which reduces certain automated protections. A second stall warning occurred at an altitude of 3,000 feet, leading the pilots to upgrade their status to a mayday call to signal critical danger.
British Airways confirmed they are cooperating fully with the AAIB, though they offered no further details due to legal constraints. The investigation is being handled via correspondence, meaning field investigators were not dispatched to the scene. Aviation safety expert David Gleave noted that while urgency calls are occasionally used for medical issues, a technical failure of this nature is highly unusual for a commercial airliner.
