Virgin Atlantic has confirmed there is a landing gear problem with a flight thought to be circling over the coast of Sussex.
The Boeing 747 jumbo is preparing for a "non standard landing" at Gatwick because of a "technical issue with one of the landing gears", said a statement.
It is currently in a holding pattern near Newhaven, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.
Experts have told Sky News the flight may have been dumping fuel and unconfirmed photos appear to show one of the landing gears at an angle.
Flight VS43 took off at 11.44am from Gatwick and was heading to Las Vegas.
Twitter users have reported seeing emergency vehicles heading for the West Sussex airport.
A tweet by the airport said: "In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution."
Flight data appears to show the aircraft made it to the South West before turning back.
http://news.sky.com/story/1399293/landing-gear-fault-on-virgin-plane-circling-uk