Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 flies 8 hours to nowhere

Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 registered D-ABTL took off from Frankfurt almost one hour late on 13 September with destination Seoul on flight LH712. Eight and a half hours later, it was back in Frankfurt after making a U-turn over Kazakstan over the shores of the Caspian Sea. What happened?

The aircraft with 341 people onboard was flying at FL350 over the Caspian Sea when the crew decided to shut down one of the four engines after finding problems with the oil pressure. The plane safely returned to Frankfurt on the three remaining engines and landed safely at the German airport from which it departed.

The passengers were rebooked on other flights. The plane involved was scheduled to fly again 24 hours later as LH732 to Shanghai.