Not all flights go as deliberate, and generally points come up, necessitating a diversion. Every so often we’ll see a “flight to nowhere,” whereby a airplane has to return to its origin. Nonetheless, this needs to be one of the excessive variations of this that I’ve seen.
ANA 787 finally ends up the place it began after 14 hours
This incident occurred on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, and includes All Nippon Airways flight NH223, scheduled to finish the journey from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to Frankfurt (FRA). The flight was operated by a 10-year-old Boeing 787-9 with the license plate JA875A, and there have been 151 passengers and 13 crew members onboard.
This flight ordinarily takes round 13-14 hours, and it doesn’t essentially take the route that you simply’d count on. Since ANA doesn’t use Russian airspace, as a substitute of working westbound, this flight really operates eastbound.
For instance, beneath is what the standard flight path seems to be like for this ANA service from Tokyo to Frankfurt, which matches out over the Pacific, after which flies over Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, and Greenland, previous to reaching continental Europe.
On this specific day, the airplane took off from Tokyo at 10:55AM native time, simply quarter-hour after the scheduled departure time. The airplane flew as anticipated for a little bit over six hours, having handed over Alaska, after which flying out over the Beaufort Sea (an extension of the Arctic Ocean).
Nonetheless, at that time the crew made the choice to return to Tokyo attributable to a mechanical problem (extra on that in a bit). In the other way of journey, the winds have been a lot stronger, so the journey again took round eight hours. Ultimately, the airplane touched down again in Tokyo at 12:59AM this morning (Wednesday, February 18, 2026), 14hr4min after it departed.
So meaning the flight really ended up taking longer than traditional, however relatively than passengers ending up at their vacation spot, they ended up precisely the place they began.
What was responsible for this uncommon ANA 787 diversion?
The explanation that the ANA Boeing 787 diverted was reportedly attributable to low oil ranges in one of many engines. Now, you is perhaps pondering to your self “wait a minute, if there’s a problem with oil within the engine, how does it make sense to fly for an additional eight hours, relatively than diverting extra instantly?”
In spite of everything, it was a shorter flight time to Frankfurt than to Tokyo on the time the airplane circled. I think this comes right down to considered one of two causes (or a mix of each).
First, proper across the level that the airplane circled, it was getting into a very distant area, with only a few diversion factors. So whereas this was an ETOPS outfitted airplane that’s approved to fly this type of a route, that doesn’t imply pilots essentially wish to proceed the journey if there’s a identified problem.
Then once more, clearly they didn’t view this as an emergency, or else they might’ve simply diverted to Alaska. The logistics would’ve been difficult, however my level is to say that if it was wanted, it may’ve been carried out. Past that, the one different possibility would’ve been to divert to Russia, and that might’ve additionally been lower than superb.
Second, typically when airways have upkeep points, they closely prioritize flying the airplane again to their base. In spite of everything, that approach the airplane can most simply be fastened, passengers can most simply be accommodated on different flights, and so on.
Whereas this was in fact an enormous inconvenience for passengers, it’s hardly uncommon to see this type of a response.
Backside line
An All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 flying from Tokyo to Frankfurt circled at roughly the midway level, after a low oil stage problem with one of many engines. Ultimately, the airplane landed again in Tokyo over 14 hours after it first departed, which is longer than the standard flight time to Frankfurt. Speak about fairly a journey to “nowhere!”
What do you make of this ANA Boeing 787 return to Tokyo Haneda?
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