BA plane crash lands at Heathrow

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
17/01/2008 20:53

A passenger plane has crash-landed short of a runway at Heathrow Airport after losing its rear undercarriage.



All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight BA038 from Beijing. 13 people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.



An airport worker told the BBC the pilot on the Boeing 777 had said he had lost all power, and had been forced to glide the plane into land.



All BA short-haul flights from Heathrow have been cancelled and others delayed.



The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed.





I could hear the undercarriage come out and the next moment the plane just dropped

Paul Venter, passenger



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"He said he had no warning - it just went," the worker added.



"It's a miracle. The man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan."



BA refused to comment on the report and said it would not speculate on the cause of the crash.



Police say the incident was not terror-related.



'Enormous bang'



Nearby Hillingdon Hospital is treating 13 casualties, nine men and four women. Four of those admitted are BA crew members, but the pilot is not thought to be among them.



Director of operations Jacqueline Totterdell said most would be discharged later on Thursday, but one woman would be admitted overnight. She said some were suffering from whiplash.





HEATHROW TRAVEL DISRUPTION

Several short-haul and some long-haul flights cancelled

Many other long-haul flights from Heathrow departing late, currently about two to three hours in many cases

The scheduled British Airways flights from Manchester Airport to Heathrow at 1540, 1705, 1850 and 1940 are cancelled.

11 incoming flights diverted to Gatwick

Four incoming flights have been diverted to Luton

Five incoming flights have been diverted to Stansted

For up-to-date information on later flights, contact your airline



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Seven of those in hospital are British and three are Chinese. The nationalities of the others are not yet known.



BA said one of those injured had a broken leg.



The incident happened on the south runway at 1242 GMT, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to leave Heathrow for China and India. His flight was delayed because of the incident.



The runway was initially closed, but reopened later to take-offs only. The north runway remained open throughout the incident.



A telephone helpline has been set up for anyone concerned about friends or relatives on 0800 3894193.



The Department of Transport's Air Accidents Investigation Branch has launched an investigation.



'On its belly'



Paul Venter, who was on board the plane, said he had been aware of a problem just as the plane was about to land.



"I could hear the undercarriage come out, and the next moment the plane just dropped," Mr Venter said.



"When everything came to a standstill, I looked out of the window and the undercarriage was gone and the plane was on its belly."



Eyewitness John Rowland, who was driving on the nearby M4 motorway, said: "The plane's wheels collapsed, doors were flown open.



"On its approach it took the runway too low, just missing the roof of my cab.

JamesB


Joined: 07/02/2007
Posts: 450

Message Posted:
17/01/2008 22:25

Thank God no one was killed.

dodger



Joined: 29/07/2007
Posts: 1895

Message Posted:
17/01/2008 23:17

Not a very good flyer myself tnd to hang on a bit and always glad to get off stems from when we flewto florida,and without warning the plane seemed to drop out of the sky.never flew after that for seven years.well done to the pilot today though must have taken some nerve.

pilgrim



Joined: 11/05/2007
Posts: 1404

Message Posted:
17/01/2008 23:31

Having seen the TV footage its a miracle it wasn't much worse.

simbas



Joined: 16/07/2007
Posts: 5943

Message Posted:
18/01/2008 05:28

god they were so lucky , on the first and last monarch flight we went on in april last year , had an emergency landing , first one i had ever experienced , to say it was the worse hour of my life was an understatement , i have never been so frightened in my life .

regards simbas