A formal investigation is under way to find out what led one of the safest
aircraft in the world to crash land at Heathrow airport this afternoon.
Passengers aboard the BA38 from Beijing were reflecting on their lucky escape,
after all 136 were safely evacuated when the stricken aircraft tore into the
tarmac. Only three suffered minor injuries.
The stricken Boeing 777 reportedly approached the southern runway of Europe's
busiest airport at an unusual angle, plunging beyond the runway.
It finally came to a halt 1000m from an aircraft carrying the Prime Minister
and 25 senior business executives, including the Virgin boss Sir Richard
Branson and the Olympic gold medallist, Dame Kelly Holmes, who were
departing for a five-day visit to China and India.
It is not yet known what caused the emergency landing although one BA worker,
who asked not to be named, said the captain told him the plane lost power
without warning.
He told BBC Radio Five Live: "They just told me that the aircraft just
shut down and everything. He lost all his power and everything and that was
it. He glided it across, lifted the nose up, and managed to get it in, and
it's gone on to the grass.
"He said to me he had no warning , absolutely nothing at all. It's just
suddenly, boom, it's just lost everything.
"It's a miracle. The man deserves an absolute medal as big as a frying
pan."
Neil Jones, a witness who has a general aviation pilot’s licence, said he had
seen the plane making a “very, very unusual approach” to Heathrow. He said:
“The engine noise sounded louder than normal and it was that that first
attracted my attention.
“The aircraft was banking to the left and it was coming in very low over the
surrounding houses. The plane was significantly lower than it would normally
be.
“I could see the undercarriage was down and the wing flaps were down. I don’t
know how many engines were working.
“You could see the pilot was desperate, trying to get the plane down. The
aircraft hit the grass and there was a lot of dirt. The pilot was struggling
to keep the plane straight. I think he did a great job.”
Paul Venter, who was on board flight BA38, said the aircraft hit trouble just
as it was about to land.
“We had a good flight, we came in 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, but
there was no communication in the cabin."
Mr Venter said that, after evacuating the plane, the passengers were met by
police and medical staff and taken to the terminal building for treatment
and security processing.
“You’ve got some pale faces here, but I would say the mood is good,” he said.
Six passengers were taken to the nearby Hillingdon Hospital with minor
injuries, a London Ambulance spokeswoman said.
Jerome Ensink, a passenger who was evacuated from the plane, said: "I'm
beginning to realise we have had a close call. I'm a bit shaken, but feeling
quite lucky. There seems to have been no major injuries.
"Everything seemed like a normal landing, until we hit the tarmac very
roughly, but it wasn't until we were coming off the grass, that we realised
the entire undercarriage was missing. We landed on the grass about 100 ft
from the runway.
"The oxygen mask were coming down and the neon lights came up."
Mr Ensink added that the incident would not prevent him from flying British
Airways in the future.
"BA have been dealing with the situation very well," he said.
The incident left the airport, which has 67.7 million passengers passing
through every year, without any fire cover, bringing air traffic to a
standstill.
The Prime Minister's flight finally took off for China, after a 55-minute
delay.
Television footage showed the plane stranded at the end of the runway, with
all of its emergency chutes inflated. Two of the plane’s giant wheel units
were ripped from the craft during the landing and were visible on grass near
the runway.
Kieran Daly, from Flight International magazine, said he was shocked by the
incident, given the aircraft, airline and airport involved.
“The 777 is pretty much state of the art at the moment, even though it has
been around for quite a long time.
“It’s very difficult to understand what might have gone wrong.
“We’re talking about one of the most advanced aircraft in the world, operated
by one of the most safety-conscious airlines in the world, flying into one
of the safest airports in the world.
“It’s quite a surprise."
In a press conference this afternoon, Willie Walsh, the BA chief executive,
said a formal investigation was being carried out by the air accident
investigation branch of the Department of Transport. He said: "It would
be inappropriate for me to speculate as to the likely cause of this incident
today."
Mr Walsh went on to praise the efforts of the flight crew and the emergency
services, who helped avert a much more serious disaster.
He said: “We are very proud of the way our crew safely evacuated all 136
passengers on board with only three minor injuries. "He added that
there were three flight crew and 13 cabin crew on board."
The northern runway was closed for more than an hour after the aircraft made
it's emergency landing at 12.42pm
The south runway remains closed, while the airport struggled to deal with the
backlog of traffic.
Three flights were diverted to Stansted, four to Luton, and 12 to Gatwick.
Heathrow has two runways, serving four terminals. A fifth is currently under
construction.
Both engines stalled due to ice in the fuel, seems unlikely with all the redundancy built into the fuel systems.
Gerard, Stockport,
Does anybody know when the AAIB enquiry is expected to complete?
Then we won't need to keep guessing!
I'm not sure whether to be relieved or scared by the fact that they don't appear to have found the answer after a month of investigating!
If they had, they would have grounded others for checks.
One thing that is certain, is that there was something fundamental wrong with that plane!
Dave, London, UK
Run out of fuel,
Then the five ton of fuel you can see covered in foam, and that the full runway lighting can not be switched back on until this is cleared up means all these experts are correct job done.
Let’s move the thing and get back to work, no need for the inquiry that way we can really save some money.
I think not, lets leave these investigators to do what they do best, answerer our entire list of question as to what went wrong and learn from it, that stops it happening again.
Well done all involved.
Len ,Berkshire
Len percy, Bracknell, Berkshire
I think that everyone making all these very early knee-jerk comments about this accident should shut up until the AAIB has investigated thoroughly and submits its report.
It is obvious this will be a media circus for the next couple of months, unfortunately.
The AAIB in the United Kingdom is probably the best in the world at its job. Let them get on with it PLEASE. Remember, this the organisation that investigated and solved the Comet crashes back in the early 1950s. They know what they're doing.
Mark Wendruff, Stanmore, United Kingdom
I am surprised that the British Airline Pilot's Association would sanction their members being paraded in front ot the media in a public relations exercise, prior to the determination of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch regarding the likely causes of this accident.
Capt. Brian L. Sperring, Basingstoke, England, UK
Knowing Heathrow quite well and the location of this incident it is miraculous there weren't more serious injuries. The distance between the perimeter road (and all the associated obstructions that come with that) and where the plane came to a halt really isn't very far at all. Had it been any lower and the situation could have been much more grim.
Fraser, United States,
There is no way if competent pilots were in the cockpit that this could happen.Thankfully no one was badly injured.
John, clifton, nottingham
It's not clear to me what exactly was the emergency, but I am sure that the pilot deserves a "congratulations" for keeping keeping things in control and executing a safe crash landing. It looks as if it could have been a lot worse.
Avraham Makeler, Rehovot, Israel
Given the sheer volume of air traffic to and from Heathrow, such an incident was just around the corner. I don't understand why the aviation authorities should schedule so many flights just to Heathrow airport? They should spread out the hundreds of international flights over all the 4 London airports and come up with quick rail connectivity between them. This will definitely reduce air traffic over London which is so prone to near misses especially when visibility is poor because of never improving bad weather conditions.
Ashwin Rao, Bristol, England
Having listened to various passenger accounts, read lots of descriptions of the final approach (large bank angles etc) and the BAA statement that the plane made an emergecy landing my current thinking is that probably one engine suffered a large bird strike (a goose maybe given that there is lots of open fresh water around Heathrow and that they have been a problem in the past)
Big planes take time and power to change their flight path so if this was to happen just at the wrong moment then a really bad landing is virtually gauranteed.
Only time will tell by hey... it's fun guessing given that everyone walked away (except the plane that is).
Biggles, Brighton, UK
Nobody badly hurt. Good!
(Hope you therefore don't mind this...)
It's hardly suprising that this plane had trouble landing so close to the disaster zone surrounding Gordon Brown.
(Basil brush laugh)
Andy, London,
No fire? This gives credence to the "ran out of fuel" theory.
Dave, Chicago, USA
my praise goes out to the pilot and crew. i must say that if gordon Brown had laid out some of his B-----hit onto the tarmac it would have made an even softer landing!!!! Still total credit for the pilot he is one in a million.
m mouse, dc, usa
So if it hadn't run out of fuel.... why no fire? I should add lucky no fire too.
Aviation fuel is volatile isn't it and engines and wings were badly damaged. And fuel is stored in the wings. We'll find out soon enough.
R James, Stockport, UK
I always feel safe flying BA. I look forward with great interest to hearing what happened.
It's cinematic, isn't it, that we have this accident only to reveal that Richard Branson flies BA.
If I were BA I'd put that into my marketing. :-)
Cat, New York, USA
I thank God Almighty who did not let this plane to crash because if it has, who would have mourning 136 people by now. And many thumps up to the crews of the flight BA038 who did all they could to see that it landed without major injuries. And to British Airways for their safety consciousness. And to Heathrow Airport Authority for being able to handle the crisis as fast as possible that movements started again almost immediately. Thank you all and keep it up. Timesonline is not left out for keeping us updated every now and then.
BRIAN WILFRED, ACCRA, GHANA
Didn't Tom Cruise and other Scientologists hex that flight?
Samantha, Urban, IL
They taking the carbon saving too far now.
Boo, Ptuj,
I believe they ran out of fuel. Either wrong fuel calculation or headwinds they did not expect, with the lowest fuel load on board to save money.
Expensive cost saving!
Dave Ainsworth, Glasgow, UK
Has anyone considered the possibility of the plane been targetted electronically (i.e. a terrorist attack to wipe out its electronics)? Today's fighter jets have electronic "counter measures". Seems interesting that the PM was about to take off for China; and this flight from China was landing.
Richard, London,
simultaneous engine failure? No fire when the wheel pierced the wing?
It's almost as if it didn't have enough fuel.
That would be impossible, though.
Ian Green, Reading, Berkshire
John, Rochester, USA said
"The only thing that could cause sudden power loss of both engines is lack of fuel."
Well John, you've saved the cost of an investigation without even seeing the plane for yourself what a man!
Glenn - Brit ex-pat, Auckland, nz
Well done to the flight crew and the cabin crew who did a fantastic job. We are onboard for many things but our main job is the safety and security of our passengers, your quick actions are to be proud of. Well done guys.
BA Crew, Kent,
was the plane full of poeple and how many were on board is there any pictures of the cockpit or the cabin .where was the most damedge .
REMY, guernsey, st peters
The plane had barely cooled down and they are already starting an inquiry???
Alvin, Manchester,
what a coincidence, does it mean that PM witness the accident
bo, shanghai, china
with the variebles involved 1000m is very close. and i am happy he didnt die, it would have given terrorists something to gloat about. every one involved is very lucky indeed
mark, ireland,
Such kind of accident would make less likely to fly with BA back to China
AChinese, London,
haha, love the Times' new sensationalist reporting, are they getting a red top next?? 1000m, that's one kilometre away from the PM's plane! Of course it would be 1Km or less away it's in an airport with lots of planes in a confined area. 1Km is a LONG way.
Ben
Ben Robinson, Brighton, UK
Classy comments. I'm not a fan either, but do you guys really think the death of 130 innocent people would be a good way to bring Brown's premiership to an end? A real "proud to be British" moment for me. No really.
Anyway, well done to the pilot for keeping everyone alive.
fergus, London, UK
I think the pilot done a greath job ,The weather is the most likly cause could have been a strong cross/tail/head wind or possible windshear
Shaun, Bristol,
I'm 95% certain, it's windshear. The 777 has a unique auto pilot system which stops the majority of the asymmetric yaw when an engine fails so engine failure will not make the 777 behave like this. Windshear can cause a massive lift reduction and can make the aeroplane stall, which will cause a huge sink rate. This is almost impossible to stop when you are so close to the ground.
Steve Francis, Oxford, England
We should pay tribute to the skill of the pilot. Thank God nobody was hurt
Richard Madge, Bexhill, UK
Yes, but it WAS in the same country!
C Smith, Staines,
note to BBC newsreaders:
that's one kilo-metre
NOT one killom-eater
TJ, London, uk
This is, in my opinion, very simple, It's windshear. There is not much, even an engine failure, that would cause a 777 to behaving like it did. The autopilot on the 777 has a unique feature which helps to control the asymmetrical yaw in the event of engine failure, so even an engine failure would in no way cause this to happen.
Steve Francis, Oxford, England
1km??? how rediculous to inlude that? we do not care that the prime minister was there at the time!!! he didn't have to go through a crash that could have killed all of them, the pm is not important in this case and i suppose if there was a celebrity there, it would be the same response from the newspapers etc etc going on about the celebrities when we only care for the people on board.
David, Truro, UK Anti EU
"the stricken flight eventually came to a halt, just 1000m from the Prime Minister's flight"
Something of the tabloid about that bit.
Mark, Glasgow,
ha, 1000m... Sir Richard Branson laughs in the face of danger
Whit, Boone, USA
was Prince William flying it?
Tom, london,
Thank goodness no-one was hurt, but will someone please define a "near-miss"? (Mike Bibby)
Surely if something nearly misses you.....it hits you?????
Colin, Wokingham, UK
Adam, I suspect if you had been on that plane the last thing you would wish to hear about is the so-called "entertainment factor" of a crash landing. These people were very lucky. Would you still find it amusing if there were serious injuries as well? Or just one death?
Ben, London,
Interesting that BA term it an 'emergency landing'. Surely they mean 'crash landing'.
Passengers are normally warned ahead of time of an emergency landing, as are emergency services. Neither appears to have happened in this case suggesting that the pilot did not plan to touch down several hundred metres short of the runway.
Mat Bartholomew, London,
I wonder if they got their bags any quicker?
Robert Rosenberg, London, UK
I think making a successful emergency landing where the plane does not burst into flames - it appears both engines dragged on the ground and perhaps the landing gear did not deploy - and no one is killed or even seriously injured, is anything but embarrassing. Cheers to the crew who got everyone on the ground safely.
Lea, DC, USA
'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing - drink deeply of that elysian spring.'
The runway is 3000 m long. The plane travelled 400m over rough ground after hitting the ground.
1000 m not far?
MJ Wells, Worksop, England
1000 metres... that's.. that's like a kilometre ;-P "Aviation expert, Philip Butterworth Hayes said: "All I can say is that these events are very unusual."" You think...
Bobby, Hyderabad, India
I just love the way that the pilot always gets praise heaped upon him/her when there is a fortunate outcome to an aircraft that has failed in some way. I'd like to point out that he/she does not have an ejector seat and is generally first to hit the ground. Under those circumstances I suspect that any well trained commercial pilot would operate at a level of brilliance few mortals sat at a desk could comprehend. When your arse is on the line you would do anything up to and including flapping your arms if it would help.
Mark Chisholm, Dereham, UK
Wow, shocking! BA is normally quite impressive. I will wait to find more about this incident. However, good job by d crew.
Sam, Leicester,
just glad that all are safe and sound on ba38 and on the ground
david collison , warfield, england
What's happened to Kelly Homes (in the photos)? She's been Tango-ed!
James , London, UK
It won't be the aircraft - unfortunately human error will be there somewhere. Well done to the flight and cabin crew. I suspect a stall or windshear. if there was a gear problem it should have been a 'go around' and sorted in a holding pattern so emergency crews were ready. Thank God no lives lost.
Mike , Christchurch, New Zealand
I agree with the 'Ran out of fuel' theory. It looks like a classic case. No wonder BA won't speculate. The pilot would have radio'd in the problem.
Steve Matthews, Newbury, uk
Possibly fuel shortage but was lightly loaded. Two engines out suggests avionics. Suprised if the APU also failed. Good outcome.
Jacko, Leicester,
1km is almost mile but it really depends upon which direction Gordon Brown's plane was! If behind then hardly a worry. Well done to the Pilot and crew. Excellent landing.
Paul Davis, York, uk
I wonder what could have caused the loss of power?
Adam Hunt, London, UK
Had the aircraft been too low on late finals then the pilot would hve been receiving "Too low Glide slope " warnings from the GPWS. I t seems to me that the aircraft experienced a massive windshear just before touch down, something that the operating crew could do little about. Hence the reasons for no warnings being given to the Pax.
PRC, Camberley, UK
Poor Dame Kelly! 12 hours on a plane with Richard Branson and Gordon Brown! She should get another medal.
Frank Upton, Solihull,
Hats off to the excellent job of the entire BA crew....From all the reports coming out of this, there was no hint of panic from anybody. A few minor injuries as a result and the rest are evacuated to safety. Well done.
Harm, Newcastle, UK
Absolute catastrophe for the BBC and the press who are struggling manfully to make a disaster out of this, but are defeated at every turn because the pilot was trained , the flight engineer was trained, the airport staff were trained, the cabin staff were trained and no one was hurt. All we need is a better airport with longer, and more, runways so the pilots have more safety leeway. The whining half-wits who bought houses near an airport and now pretend they didn't know planes made a noise can be safely ignored. They wouldn't be living where they are if they weren't fools or had sought out cheap housing with triple glazing and sound-proofing provided free.
eric campbell, harrogate, uk
They were lucky. It was not their day to die.
Bruce L. Northwood, Washington, D.C., USA
Interesting that its reported that Gordon Brown was flying on the same aircraft as Richard Branson. Since its highly unlikely that Mr Branson was flying BA we must assume that our PM was not flying the flag. I wonder if he will declare his free ticket or would that be considered incompetent?
Well done to all the crew of the BA aircraft for a superb job.
Ian Hayter, Farnborough,
The oly thing that could cause sudden power loss of both engines is lack of fuel. remeber these planes are cerified for extended range operations with an inlfight engine shut down rate of < 1:1000,000 flights. I suspect BA has been reducing fuel uplift on long flights to save money (costs to carry the extra wieght of fuel). So rather than good things to the pilot, he may end up getting cashiered for running out of fuel.
John, Rochester, USA
Clearly the runways need to be extended.
Jonathan Stiles, Helsinki, Finland
I say well done to the cabin crew!! but most of all a spiffing job by the pilots who managed to miss the runway!!
Zaamin Jaffa, Dubai,
Well done to the pilot whom managed to maneuver the Boing 777 directly into Heathrow withou of the use of the glide slope this is a terrific achievment that can only be saught after by any aspiring pilot tremendous acts of heroic bravery can only be aplauded. One can only speculate what it would be like to be in such a terrifying situation with so many peoples lives in the palm of their hands. the slightest movement could of caused a completly different outcome and lets just say not so many people would be safe at home withtheir familys right now!!!!! my thoughts go out to everyone involved in this harrowing incident!! god bless us all............................................
Zaamin Jaffer, Dubai,
Come on Jeremy Smith! 136 passengers were saved for goodness sake. And all you have to comment on is an typing error !!!
Jean, london,
No Clive it doesnt mean that Heathrows fire cover is inadequate, it means that they have a responsible attitude to safety of those still using the airport, as well as an expected lack of understanding by you of the rules and regulations the UK have in place regarding the operation of airports and the extrmely high value that the whole UK aviation industry places on safety. Personaly I'd rather fly on a UK airline than drive round the M25, our roads are far more dangerous and have killed far more in the last decade than the total of the UK aviation history! A shame not more is made of the killings on our roads!
Geoff , Billericay,
Quite a coincidence that this should occur just after another electronics failure was reported by a flight leaving Heathrow in 2005 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7193048.stm). Although no power was lost in this case, it does make you wonder if the two cases are connected.
Mark, Marlborough, Wiltshire
Well done the crew on Flight BA38 and especially the pilot, just think what would have happened if it had come down over a populated area, many lives would have been lost, we just need a quick explanation why it came down in the first place and get our confidence back about flying with BA once again
Brian Sainsbury, Hickling, Norfolk
Very enlightening for Stephen Younger, St Andrews, SCOTLAND to advise that the main airport for London should be in the Thames estuary.
As someone licing in the South East of England, that's a long way from the majority of travellers using Heathrow, across one of the busiest cities in Europe, if not the world.
Heathrow has excellent proximity to mainline train transport, and the M4 and M25 motorways, and indirectly the M3 and M1 corridor.
Paul, South East , UK
If all the fire cover was exhausted when deployed to tend to one single accident, what would happen in the case of of a string of disasters, such in the case of a terrorist act?
Does this imply that Heathrow, Europe's busiest, is not adeqately covered in terms of fire fighting equipment and personnel? I hope not.
Clive Aquilina Spagnol, Naxxar, Malta
4th paragraph from the bottom. "... the aircraft made it's emergency landing". NO! This should be, of course "the aircraft made _its_ emergency landing." <horror> that a broadsheet journalist can make such a howler.
Jeremy Smith, London,
Great job by the pilot!!!
Bob, Bangkok,
Have just heard the news, well done to the pilot.
J.W., ROMFORD, ESSEX
A BAA statement on the heathrowairport.com website says that the plane 'carried out an emergency landing' indicating that it was intentional.
I wonder if the security service were having kittens - nasty things co-incidences <g> !
John, London, UK
This lucky escape for the passengers of flight BA38 and perhaps some of the inhabitants of West London gives further support for the notion that the main London Airport should be re-sited in the Thames Estuary.
Stephen Younger, St Andrews, Scotland
I'm sorry but the safety and welfare of the passengers and crew of the stricken plane should be of infinately more concern than any "Embarressment" for BA as to who was leaving the airport whatever their rank or position in our society. My home is closer to this incident than the flight carrying the PM was at the time.
John Buckley, Hounslow West, Middlesex
Sounds like they ran out of Fuel on short final or windshear.
Rupert, London,
Who cares about the PM?
gordon mann, mexico, mexico
1000 metres? Thats not even a near miss!
Mike Bibby, St ALbans, England -not EU
What went Wong?
mike.jackson, Norfolk, UK
With passengers sustaining only minor injuries this event has a high entertainment factor. The public are always interested in things going wrong!
Adam, London,
Just 1 Kilometer from the Prime Minister's Flight ?
Wow what a narrow escape!
Simon, The Hague,