British Airways flight forced to land after 'cockpit fills with smoke'

A British Airways flight has made an emergency landing after the cockpit reportedly 'filled with smoke and fumes'.

The flight took off from Heathrow at 8.45am and was due to land in Aberdeen at 10.15am, but it was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Manchester.

A Flight Emergency social media account wrote: 'British Airways flight BA1306 diverted to Manchester a short time ago under emergency conditions due to smoke and fumes in the cockpit.'

FlightRadar tracking appears to show that the plan changed direction while over Northamptonshire before heading north west, the Mirror report.

A Manchester Airport spokesman told the publication the issue was 'not serious' after the crew experienced 'a technical issue on board' and diverted.

This comes after a passenger died after falling ill on his way back to Liverpool from Bulgaria. 

Read More

Flight to Spain is diverted after MOUSE is spotted scurrying out of passenger's in-flight meal

Father-of-two Chris Neill was travelling back from Bourgas with sons Reece, 19, and eight-year-old Archie when he felt unwell on the Jet2 flight.

The plane made an emergency landing in Cologne, Germany, where he was led off the plane to the awaiting emergency service.

But as the 40-year-old walked down the steps from the plane to the runway, he collapsed and later died from a suspected heart attack.

A GoFundMe has since been set up by Chris's parents, Malcom and Lesley, who are raising funds to bring their son's body back to the UK and organise a funeral for him.

Last week, another emergency landing was made by a plane on a flight from Oslo to Malaga in Spain after a rodent was found in the passenger's meal.

Rodents on board aircraft can pose a safety risk as they are able to chew through critical wiring. Airlines usually have procedures to prevent such an incident occurring.

Passengers on the disrupted Scandinavian Airlines flight were then flown on to Malaga on a different plane.

One passenger on the plane, Jarle Borrestad, told BBC News that people remained calm and 'were not stressed at all' by the unusual discovery.

A BA spokesperson said: 'Our aircraft was diverted as a precaution because of a suspected technical issue. We’re sorry to our customers for the disruption to their journeys and our teams are working to get them on their way again as quickly as possible.'