The E-3 Sentry, the fleet of which were retired from Royal Air Force service last year, declared an emergency whilst in flight.

The incident took place around 11:45am, when the aircraft declared an emergency by ‘squawking 7700’, more about that below.

A Twitter used heard the aircraft, callsign SOLEX01, transmit:

“PAN PAN PAN. Auxillary system loss. Dumping fuel in North Sea soon, then heading to Waddington.”

What is the significance of “Squawking 7700”?

Captain Hoke is a Boeing 757/767 captain for a package express airline and also runs the website AeroSavvy, he had this to say.

“Declaring an emergency means the crew determines they have an ‘urgency’ or ‘distress’ situation. “Urgency” means the crew is concerned about the safety of the flight and needs timely (but not necessarily immediate) assistance. A ‘distress’ condition means that the flight is in serious and/or imminent danger and requires immediate assistance”.

Retired but still flying?

The most likely reason is to retain skills amongst the crew in preparation for the types replacement, the E-7 Wedgetail, coming into service.

The RAF’s E-3 Sentry airborne early warning aircraft fleet was retired in September with their replacement not due until 2023. The UK will rely on the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force to plug the gap.

British E-3D Sentry fleet retires

What is the status of Wedgetail?

The UK recently cut its order for five E-7 aircraft to three. The Defence Command Paper released last year, titled ‘Defence in a Competitive Age‘, states:

“We will retire the E 3D Sentry in 2021, as part of the transition to the more modern and more capable fleet of three E 7A Wedgetail in 2023. The E 7A will transform our UK Airborne Early Warning and Control capability and the UK’s contribution to NATO. The nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will help to secure our seas.

The introduction into service of the 16 long range Protector remotely piloted systems will be the backbone of persistent, multi spectral surveillance, with the ability to strike and act decisively against our potential adversaries around the globe.”

You can read more about that here.

First UK E-7 Wedgetail ready for conversion work

You can also read more about the status of the first E-7 for the Royal Air Force by clicking here or clicking the link above.

 

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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16 COMMENTS

  1. hope the crew are all safe. But I did see it on flight radar today and was wondering why it was both red and flying in the first place.

  2. What is the significance of “Squawking 7700”?
    When I was based in Assi and Belize the RAF often used to divert to cushty places (Rio/Florida) after declaring an emergency . The worse one for me, was when my goes homey bird from Belize was delayed with a stop over in the states on route to us. Boy did i get ribbed by the lads in the mess that evening

  4. So it’s retired, still flying/maintained in flight readiness so any cost savings negligible?? Is only one flying or more?? Just wondering??

    • Or has it been resurrected due to the increased tensions around Ukraine?

      The E7 crews are embedded on exchange.

    • Whilst they are finalising sale of the airframes in a flyable condition this is necessary.

      The USN wants one to act as a training airframe for their E-6B and Chile looks to be considering using the E-3D as a replacement for their 707 Phalcon AEW.

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