” The pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return,”
That’s an important piece of information
Perhaps, but irrelevant unless we know what he was talking about. Who was the pilot? Ethiopian? Egyptian? British? What?
Distress call? If declaring an IFE, what? A burned out bulb? A loss of an engine? What?
One pilots emergency is another’s ho-hum minor incident. That is why it is important to know who the aircrew are and their experience.