Canadian investigators have disclosed that a Boeing 777-200LR crew received terrain alerts and ‘pull up’ instructions while in cruise over Pakistan.
The incident occurred on 27 August, as the Air Canada aircraft was operating the AC43 service from Delhi to Toronto.
According to a Transportation Safety Board bulletin, the crew received “terrain, pull up” warnings about 1h into the flight.
At the time the 777 was cruising at around 30,000ft over northern Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan.
“The flight crew followed checklist actions and the decision was made to return to [Delhi],” says the bulletin.
It adds that the crew transmitted a ‘pan pan’ urgency message and was met on arrival by emergency vehicles, although the flight landed without incident. None of the 316 occupants was injured.
Air Canada took delivery of the General Electric GE90-powered twinjet (C-FIUF) new in 2007.
