British Airways 777 crashed at Heathrow
January 24th, 2008 | by Dusk |
17 January 2008
British Airways 777 crashed at Heathrow Airport.
Passengers are led to safety after a British Airways jet from Beijing landed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport, injuring six people and causing delays at the world’s busiest airport.
A British Airways jet crash landed short of the runway at London Heathrow on Thursday, injuring six people and causing delays at the world’s busiest airport.
The undercarriage of the Boeing 777 was wrecked with the back end and the engines touching the ground. Passengers poured out of emergency slides while firefighters sprayed safety foam around the jet. One said he felt he had won the “lottery” by escaping unharmed.
Television pictures showed skidmarks carving up the grass ahead of the runway used by Flight BA38 from Beijing with 136 passengers and 16 crew on board. All the injuries were reported as minor.
Paul Venter, a passenger on the flight, said the plane hit problems just as it was about to land.
“I could hear the undercarriage come out and the next moment the plane just dropped,” he said.
“The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn’t tell you how far.
“When everything came to a standstill, I looked out of the window and the undercarriage was gone and the plane was on its belly.
“I didn’t speak to the pilot, but I saw him, and he looked very pale.”
BBC television quoted the pilot as saying he had lost all power as it was landing and had to glide it in.
The incident happened shortly before Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to take off from Heathrow for China on an official visit. His flight was briefly held up.
The southern runway was closed at Heathrow, causing delays. Some flights were being to other airports.
Another passenger, Fernando Prado, told BBC television by telephone that all the passengers had been evacuated within two or three minutes, adding of his escape: “I won the lottery today.”
A Heathrow spokesman said the plane carried out an emergency landing at 12:42 pm (1242 GMT) and that it had been fully evacuated.
“The Heathrow southern runway has been closed, but the northern runway remains open,” he added.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: “We are very proud of the way our crew safely evacuated all 136 passengers on board.
“The crew are very experienced and are trained to deal with circumstances like this.”
He said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch would probe what happened and the airline would cooperate fully.
“It would be innapropriate for me to speculate as to the likely cause of this incident,” Walsh added.
He said the aircraft in question was about six years old and BA had 43 Boeing 777s in operation.
Six passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries, said a spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service.
A London police spokesman said there was no suggestion that terrorism was involved.
The British prime minister was travelling with a party of around 30 journalists, businessmen and personalities, including Virgin chief Richard Branson and Olympic athlete Kelly Holmes.
2nd source
LONDON A British Airways jet from Beijing carrying 152 people crash-landed Thursday, injuring 19 people and causing more than 200 flights to be canceled at Europe’s busiest airport.
Investigators will speak to the pilots and study the plane’s flight data recorder and maintenance records to determine what caused the crash-landing at Heathrow Airport, tearing the plane’s underbelly and damaging its wings.
Nothing suggested it was terror-related, Scotland Yard said.
Timothy Crowch, an aviation analyst with 35 years of experience as a commercial pilot, said the landing gear punched through both wings, indicating a “massive vertical impact.” That suggests a total loss of engine power may have been the cause, he said.
Robert Cullemore of Aviation Economics, a London-based aviation consultancy, said the pilot kept the plane in the air long enough to prevent a disaster.
“If it had landed 200 meters [656 feet] shorter than it did, it may have hit perimeter fence and obviously some other buildings and the car park, clearly we would be dealing with fatalities and obvious damage,” Cullemore said.
Firetrucks surrounded the Boeing 777 after it landed, spraying fire-retardant foam around the aircraft. Two of the plane’s giant wheel units were ripped from the craft during the landing and could be seen on grass near the runway.
Passenger Paul Venter said the trouble started as the aircraft was about to land.
“The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn’t tell you how far,” he said.
The plane’s wheels appeared to collapse as it came down in the grass in front of the airport’s southern runway, witness John Rowland told the BBC.
“It crashed into the runway, debris was flying everywhere, there was an enormous bang and it skidded sideways,” he said.
Hillingdon Hospital said it was treating 13 injured, and six went to other hospitals. British Airways said one person suffered a broken leg.
The accident on one of Heathrow’s two runways occurred just before a plane carrying British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a delegation of business leaders, including Virgin Chairman Richard Branson, was about to depart for China. The prime minister’s plane was about a half-mile away.
More than 200 flights were canceled nearly a fifth of the day’s flights, airport operator BAA said. Planes were able to take off and land on Heathrow’s northern runway, air-traffic control company Nats said. Some flights were diverted to other airports.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch was investigating, British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh said, adding that the airline didn’t want to speculate on the cause. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board also said it was sending a team of investigators to help.
Note - News and pictures are from the internet.
