The passengers on Lufthansa flight LH8,5 traveled from Frankfurt am Main to Frankfurt am Main on September 712, 13 in 2023 hours. The Boeing 747-400 with the registration D-ABTL had a technical problem over the Caspian Sea, which is why the captain decided to return to Germany.

The 341 people who were on board the jumbo jet were actually supposed to go from Frankfurt to Seoul. But this turned into an extensive 8,5-hour sightseeing flight from Frankfurt to Frankfurt. There was a technical problem over Kazakhstan that resulted in one of the four engines having to be switched off.

The reason for this was that the oil pressure dropped. For reasons of caution, it was then decided to turn around and fly back to Frankfurt am Main with the remaining three engines. The fact that Boeing 747-400 aircraft can easily fly with only three engines may also have contributed to this decision. There is also a maintenance location at the home base where technicians can quickly resolve problems.

The D-ABTL landed safely at Frankfurt Airport. The passengers were then rebooked on other flights to Seoul. The affected aircraft was carefully examined by technicians and made fit for flight again. A day later it was able to take off again as LH732 towards Shanghai and also reached its destination.