An Air France Airbus A350 turns around: what is the enigmatic code 7700 activated by the pilot ?

The plane had just taken off from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport and was flying to Chennai, India (illustrative photo). imagebroker.com – MAXPPP

The pilot of an Air France plane leaving from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport activated code 7700 in mid-flight this Monday, March 18, 2024 before turning back.

Monday March 18, 2024, a pilot of an Air France Airbus A350 activated code 7700. He had just taken off from Roissy-Charles airport -de-Gaulle and flew to Chennai, India, reports France 3 in particular.

Distress

After 30 minutes, he had to report a distress situation. Code 7700 is therefore an emergency code, specifies Actu-transport-logistique.fr. "If code 7700 is triggered, an alarm is triggered immediately on radar control posts" on the ground, explains Gérard Legauffre, independent aeronautical expert and former investigator for the Bureau of Investigations and Analysis (BEA), cited by this same site. "Mayday" also happens quite often. But culturally, more in Anglo-Saxon countries."

Air France #AF108 Airbus A350 is declaring an emergency and returning to Paris https://t.co/ndULkdouvS

— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) March 18, 2024

U-turn

As a precaution, the flight in question turned around. Air France added that "pilots and cabin crew are trained and regularly trained to manage this type of known and controlled situation". The However, the company did not provide further information on this technical incident.

127 passengers on board

The plane, which had taken off at 10:08 a.m., landed on the runway of the Paris airport at 11:16 a.m. . 127 passengers were on board this A350.

The same day, reports in particular 20minutes, an Airbus A330 of the Lufthansa company departing from Frankfurt, in Germany, towards Dubai, had to land urgently on the Greek island of Rhodes. Due to an electrical problem, smoke has spread inside the appliance. All 190 passengers are safe and sound.