A Boeing 777 bound for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, turned around shortly after takeoff on Sunday and landed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport after reporting an unknown technical issue.
Flight 705, operated by Dutch airline KLM, landed safely. A spokesman for Dutch air traffic control said the plane had called in a precautionary landing and turned back over Belgium about 40 minutes after takeoff. The nature of the technical problem was not disclosed.
The airline said the safety of passengers and crew was not at risk and passengers were due to fly to Rio de Janeiro on another aircraft on Sunday.
Why is Boeing under scrutiny?
The incident comes at a time when US aviation giant Boeing has been hit by a series of safety problems and announced that CEO Dave Calhoun would step down by the end of the year.
The airline has been particularly troubled by safety issues involving its 737 MAX-9 planes. In January, a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX-9 plane came off at an altitude of about 16,000 feet above the ground.
Boeing has since come under intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators, who have limited production while the company works to resolve safety and quality issues.
Boeing: Turbulent times for the US aircraft manufacturer
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But that hasn't stopped U.S. aircraft makers from experiencing other safety issues in the air.
History of deadly airborne emergencies
In March, a 787 suddenly crashed in flight, injuring about 50 people. Last month, a Boeing 777-300ER en route from London to Singapore with 211 passengers on board experienced sudden turbulence over the Irrawaddy River basin, forcing the pilot to abort the flight to Bangkok. One passenger was killed in the crash.
Dozens injured after New Zealand-bound plane crashes in mid-air
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But these and other airborne emergencies pale in comparison to the crashes of two Boeing MAX 8 planes in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to the grounding of all MAX 8 and MAX 9 aircraft worldwide for nearly two years.
In 2018, a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people on board. A year later, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing 157 people. While multiple factors contributed to both tragedies, both crashes were linked to the aircraft's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is designed to automatically lower the plane's nose if it detects a risk of stall.
Several whistleblowers have also come forward, alleging risks in the aircraft manufacturing process. These efforts have been complicated by two recent fatal accidents. In March, a former employee testifying against Boeing in a whistleblower lawsuit died from a gunshot wound that police later said was a suicide. In late April, another whistleblower died after a short illness after contracting a fast-spreading infection that developed into pneumonia.
rmt/dj (dpa, Reuters)
