Virgin Atlantic A346 at London on Feb 14th 2016, medical issue with pilot after laser strike

Last Update: February 19, 2016 / 14:20:28 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 14, 2016

Classification
Accident

Airline
Virgin Atlantic

Flight number
VS-25

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
New York JFK, United States

Aircraft Registration
G-VWKD

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-600

ICAO Type Designator
A346

A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600, registration G-VWKD performing flight VS-25 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to New York JFK,NY (USA) with 252 passengers and 15 crew, had depared Heathrow's runway 09R and was enroute at FL360 about 170nm northnorthwest of Shannon (Ireland) about 60 minutes later when the crew declared PAN PAN PAN reporting a medical issue with one of the pilots following a laser strike after takeoff from Heathrow Airport, later adding that the laser strike had been about 6-7nm west of Heathrow Airport (editorial note: aircraft was climbing through 6000-7000 feet at that point). The crew turned around and returned to London for a safe landing on Heathrow's runway 27L about 75 minutes after turning around.

The airline reported the first officer felt unwell following the laser strike, both flight crew decided to return to Heathrow rather than continue the Atlantic crossing.

The Aviation Herald learned that the first officer received retinal non-permanent damage to his eyes developing over time after the red beam of the laser swept through the flight deck, the first officer is on the way to recovery.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 14, 2016

Classification
Accident

Airline
Virgin Atlantic

Flight number
VS-25

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
New York JFK, United States

Aircraft Registration
G-VWKD

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-600

ICAO Type Designator
A346

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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