Source: Sarah Hooper | traveltrade.today

A British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing after smoke entered the cockpit while it was 35,000ft in the air.

The plane, which was heading from London to Oslo, landed in a rainy field in Amsterdam where it was met by emergency vehicles yesterday evening.

Passengers onboard were told their plane had to land immediately due to safety fears, as the pilot issued a mayday call around 90 minutes into their journey.

The Airbus A320 passengers were seen leaving the rear doors of the plane after landing and boarding buses to wait in the terminal.

The incident occurred just 90 minutes after the flight left Terminal 5 at Heathrow at 5.09pm on Wednesday.

Air traffic controllers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport were forced to clear the schedule to accommodate the emergency landing, disrupting numerous other flights.

Upon touching down, the BA carrier temporarily blocked the taxiway, causing further delays.

A source told the Sun: ‘Smoke in the cockpit is never a good thing and at 30,000ft it’s alarming to say the least.

‘The BA crew were 100 per cent professional and kept their cool throughout. They followed procedure and took the emergency action necessary to divert the jet as quickly as possible.

‘It was a rough ride for the passengers but they were in safe hands.

‘Landing the jet at a remote part of the airfield in Amsterdam shows how serious the situation was. The emergency services were taking no chances and wanted the smoking jet as far from the terminal building as possible.’

A BA spokesperson said: ‘This aircraft was diverted into Amsterdam Schiphol Airport as a precaution following a minor technical issue onboard.

‘We’ve apologised to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans and we’ll get them on their way as soon as possible.’