Two female pilots of a British Airways jet felt dizzy in midflight and were forced to quickly return to London's Heathrow Airport for an emergency landing on Dec. 20, according to air accident investigators' report.

The incident almost caused a panic among the more than 100 passengers aboard the Airbus A321 20 minutes into their flight to Glasgow but the pilots managed to safely land the plane while on oxygen masks and with assistance from cabin crew.

No one was reported injured. Ten fire trucks and two ambulances were standing by at Terminal 5 to deal with the emergency.
According to a report of the incident on the Daily Mail, the passengers learned of the trouble at 6,000 metres when the lead cabin steward was called to the cockpit. They then saw other cabin crew bringing oxygen tanks to the pilot area and felt the plane turn around quickly.

The Daily Mail quoted a 40-year-old passenger as saying: "I know we flew back much faster than we had set off because we began descending sharply almost straight away.

"A lot of stewards were moving about. You could tell they had a lot on their plate, with this happening so soon into the flight."
The crew told passengers the plane had a technical fault so they had to return to the airport. One passenger felt frightened and had to be comforted by the crew.

News of the incident was first reported on a website of professional pilots. The website quoted one user as saying that a BA pilot made an abrupt and panicked message through the PA 20 minutes after leaving Heathrow at 4 p.m. Worried faces of cabin crew were then seen while they rushed oxygen cylinders to the pilots.

The website user, a 40-year-old health and safety manager, mentioned they were told of a technical problem but he later learned the real reason.

"It later transpires that both pilots became lightheaded/dizzy/unwell at the same time, in my book that's serious," he said, according to Daily Mail. But he praised the cabin stewards for dealing with the situation calmly and collectively. "They did a fantastic job," he said.

The paramedics who boarded the plane and examined the pilots learned that the latter were close to passing out during the flight.

A BA spokeswoman said on Monday that the plane had no technical problem and returned to service the following day. She added that the pilots put on oxygen masks because that was the procedure for flight crew when they feel light-headed.
"Our flight crew are highly trained to deal with such circumstances. The aircraft returned to Heathrow, landed safely and customers continued their journey on a replacement aircraft after a short delay.

"We apologise to customers for the inconvenience but their safety is always our highest priority," the spokeswoman sad.

Air accident investigators are still determining what caused the pilots to nearly pass out.