A Virgin Atlantic flight to Seattle returned to London Heathrow with the RAM deployed.
The flight #VS105 departed London Heathrow runway 27R on Saturday 27th January 2024 on time.
The Boeing 787-9 climbed to 23,000ft then the noticed a technical issue only 10 minutes after the take off.
The pilots decided to return to London Heathrow but had to dump fuel to reduce the weight of the aircraft.
The Boeing aircraft (reg. G-VZIG) landed only 1h10 with the Ram air turbine deployed.
VS105 Heathrow to Seattle turns back and deploys the RAT (ram air turbine) G-VZIG ✈️#avgeek #aviation pic.twitter.com/rao5Sl6Fuu
— EvieAviation (@EvieAviation) January 27, 2024
It’s still unclear if the RAM was deployed because of lose of power.
A ram air turbine is a small wind turbine that is connected to a hydraulic pump, or electrical generator, installed in an aircraft and used as a power source. The RAM generates power from the airstream by ram pressure due to the speed of the aircraft. It may be called an air driven generator on some aircraft.