United Airlines flight UA979 from Edinburgh to Washington Dulles International Airport was forced to turn back over the Atlantic and return to Scotland due to an "inoperable lavatory".
Flight details and diversion
The Boeing 757 departed Edinburgh Airport at 12.45pm on Wednesday, August 5, carrying 95 passengers, and was due to arrive in the US capital at around 3.30pm local time. However, data from flight tracking app FlightRadar24 shows the aircraft travelled west across the North Atlantic at around 36,000ft before turning south about an hour into the flight. The plane then headed eastward back across Northern Ireland and onto Edinburgh, landing safely at around 1.45pm.
Issue resolved and departure
Engineers from United were able to fix the toilet, and the aircraft restarted its journey after a three-and-a-half hour delay at around 5.15pm. A spokesperson for United Airlines said: "United flight 979 from Edinburgh to Washington Dulles safely returned to Edinburgh due to an inoperable lavatory. We fixed the issue and the flight has departed for Washington."
