News Reader.info

The Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry aircraft transmitted an emergency Squawk 7700. The emergency was declared while flying above Newcastle shortly after 2:15pm today. The aircraft has since

landed safely to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire shortly before 4pm. An RAF spokesperson told Express.co.uk: "An RAF E3-D Sentry on a routine mission suffered a technical issue which

required the crew to return to base, the aircraft subsequently completed an uneventful recovery to RAF Waddington, where the aircraft landed safely". It was understood the aircraft was

returning from a routine training mission over the Northumberland National Park when the emergency was declared. Independent aircraft monitors Sierra Alpha, added the aircraft was providing

support for a training exercise in and around Otterburn Camp.     They added on Twitter: "Continuing to head toward RAF Waddington, no sign of a diversion as of yet. "Aircraft

appears to be burning off fuel over the North Sea in preparation for its return to RAF Waddington." The monitors then said the aircraft was said to have been circling off the North

Coast of Norfolk at 3.20 pm. They continued on Twitter: "Continuing to burn fuel, could be a while before we see it return to the mainland." The Sentry aircraft are used to monitor

the country’s airspace and provide threat detection. It comes a week after a US Air Force plane was forced to land in the UK following an emergency.  The RAF said three B-52 bombers were on

a routine training mission from the US when one suffered an engine failure suddenly. The US Air Force has launched an investigation into what caused the engine failure.  The bomber was

forced to circle around Gloucestershire for about 90 minutes last Thursday to burn off fuel before landing. An RAF spokesman explained the B-52 bomber was halfway through the Mediterranean

when one of its eight engines shut down. "They had to make a decision to either continue or divert, if it was a major emergency it would go to the nearest airfield which could've

been southern Italy or France," he said.