BA B777 from China crashed? at Heathrow

robinph

Reports just coming in on BBC news that a BA 777 from China has landed short of the runway at Heathrow. Escape shutes out aparently but no fire seen.

Edit: Just showing pictures now of it parked at an angle at the landing end of the runway and one of the wings appears to be badly damaged as well. Long tire marks across the grass as well.

highlydebased

Apparently its undercarraige collapsed also

peter1892

'Landed short' according to the BBC...hoepfully everyone's OK...

faceman

Doesnt look like anyone was hurt thankfully. Heathrow airport has been closed

robinph

They are now saying just a couple of minor injuries. They also have Gordon Brown currently on another 777 waiting to take off to head to China, and of course a plane full of journo's on the plane as well who get to phone into their stations with "eyewitness" reports.

*Kol*

BA 777 severely damaged in Heathrow emergency landing
David Kaminski-Morrow, London (17Jan08, 13:29 GMT, 121 words)


Passengers have been evacuated from a British Airways Boeing 777 after it was severely damaged while landing at London Heathrow.

Images from the scene show the aircraft has come to rest at the threshold of 27L, and clearly show serious damage to the left-hand wing as well as apparent tyre marks in the grass for some distance before the runway.

No further details have emerged about the accident which British Airways confirms occurred to flight BA038 from Beijing

Heathrow operator BAA says the aircraft carried out an emergency landing at 12:42. The airport’s southern runway, 09R/27L, has been closed. Heathrow’s northern runway is still in operation.

Escape slides have been deployed on the aircraft and several emergency vehicles are in attendance.

*Kol*

peter1892

Another pic from the Beeb...

robinph

136 people on board aparently, 4 minor injuries.

They have spoken to a couple of passengers who seemed to be oblivious to anything wrong until the plane lurched to the right at the end of the landing and stopped, just thought it was a bit of a bumpy ending to the landing. Only once they got of via the slides and looked at the wheels missing and the wings a bit messed up did they think it was anything more major. Part of one of the wings looks like it might have broken into the side of the over wing window seats though so I guess there was nobody sat there.

All of the people who they have spoken to that were watching it come in have said something along the lines of the engines were very loud/ was turning in to line up very late/ was very low over the preimiter road.

cyrusdvirus

well at least it looks like no one was killed.

Is this the first serious accident regarding the 777? Cos that plane looks like a write off.

robinph

gatecrash wrote: »

Is this the first serious accident regarding the 777? Cos that plane looks like a write off.

One of the "aviation experts" just being spoken to said it was the first accident for the 777.

cyrusdvirus

On another hopefully, it was a one off mechanical failure, cos otherwise that flight crews career are over

Tabnabs

Airport is not closed, north runway still in use.

robinph

Few more pictures from Auntie here.

A lot of flights gone to land at Gatwick, Stanstead and Luton. They were talking to a passenger from the following Emirates flight and it sounded like they had more of an incident on their flight with the sudden aborted landing and then heading to Gatwick than the passengers on the BA one were aware of until they got off.

peter1892

gatecrash wrote: »

On another hopefully, it was a one off mechanical failure, cos otherwise that flight crews career are over

Well at this point nothing has been made public about what caused the incident, it could be one of a number of reasons. But it doesn't necessarily mean that this crew is for the chop (even if they did get it wrong).

GaryB

Thankfully there was no serious injuries, and luckily enough too
That triple 7 is for the knackers yard from what I can see!

Traffic

It looks lke the undercarriage strut/s has come up through the wing

kona

planes ****ed:eek:
from the interviews on sky news it sounds like, they hit a updraft or somthing which caused the plane to stall, just before landing, from the pics the plane was lined up okay, with te runway.
he missed the runway by a mile tho:eek:
looking the state of the undercarrige,it clearly hasnt collapsed, just looks like the plane hit harder than the towers/mounts were designed for and that is hard to do!!!. they are lucky nobody died and the plane didnt catch fire.

cyrusdvirus

This from the BBC website.....


Airliner crash lands at Heathrow

The BA flight crash-landed at Heathrow Airport



An international passenger plane has crash landed short of the south runway at Heathrow Airport after losing its rear undercarriage.
All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight BA038 from Beijing. Six people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries.

An airport worker told the BBC that the pilot said he had lost all power and had to glide the plane into land.

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

The BBC's Angus Crawford said the worker, who was not identified, said the pilot told him all the electronics had also failed.

Not terror-related

The incident happened 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.

Downing Street said at about 1430 GMT that Gordon Brown had taken off.

Paul Venter, passenger wrote:

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

The south runway is closed while investigators examine the scene - the north runway remains open.

Police have said the incident involving the Boeing 777 was not terror-related.

The Department of Transport has launched an investigation.

'Enormous bang'

Eyewitness John Rowland 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.

HEATHROW TRAVEL DISRUPTION
All British Airways short haul flights out of Heathrow cancelled for the rest of the day
Some long haul flights cancelled
Many other long haul flights from Heathrow departing late, currently about 90 minutes 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

"It crashed into the runway, debris was flying everywhere, there was an enormous bang and it skidded sideways."

BA said the cabin crew had done an "excellent job" evacuating passengers, and that it would release more information as soon as it was available.

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

Chief executive of BA Willie Walsh said he was "very proud" of the crew.


Fernando Pardo was a passenger on the plane itself. He told the BBC there was "no sign whatsoever of any trouble until we touched the ground".

kona

how many back up systems, as regard to electronics does a 777 have??
very strange altogether.
could he have ran out of fuel???how long were they holding at heathrow?? as for two engines to stop ant the same time...at the end of a flight??
if this is the case the pilot and co-pilot should be given a medal:D
although sky said that passengers were not told about a incident which is strange as it the pilot "glided" the plane in he would of had to be at a certain height, im not sure but isnt it somthing like 1000M height needed to glide 100m??? somthing doesnt add up.

cyrusdvirus

I'd say the downdraft/updraft and stall situation sounds more likely.

The unnamed worker in the beeb report could be one of those talking to hear himself talk type people....

kona

gatecrash wrote: »

I'd say the downdraft/updraft and stall situation sounds more likely.

The unnamed worker in the beeb report could be one of those talking to hear himself talk type people....

true, id imagine those pilots would have been taken away asap and told not to talk to anybody.
i would like to see the flight report:D
shame about the aircraft, prob be cut up asap.

cyrusdvirus

kona wrote: »

true, id imagine those pilots would have been taken away asap and told not to talk to anybody.
i would like to see the flight report:D
shame about the aircraft, prob be cut up asap.

Wonder would Airbus offer them a deal on an A380!!

If this had happened a 787 the conspiricy theorists would be having a field day too. Especially with this bit!!

the beeb wrote:

An airport worker told the BBC that the pilot said he had lost all power and had to glide the plane into land.
The BBC's Angus Crawford said the worker, who was not identified, said the pilot told him all the electronics had also failed.

kona

gatecrash wrote: »

Wonder would Airbus offer them a deal on an A380!!

If this had happened a 787 the conspiricy theorists would be having a field day too. Especially with this bit!!

**** it bring back concorde......or a 707 my god the noise off them is amazing!!!
707 is my favorite plane ever, it just gives the finger to every enviromentalist out there:D and the noise of those pratt and whitney JT-3D my god, like a ryanair 737-200 only twice the loudness and screaming.
there is a video on you-tube of a aer lingus 707 or 720 doing a fly past.......:D
from an era when you could build/engineer anything witout question

ha ha ye conspiracy theorists, sure dont you know the AA 767 on 911 had that internet!!!
muppets

pclancy

Good to see nobody seriously hurt, this will be interesting to see what happened as the 777s first major accident. Double engine failure on such a high tech aircraft though? So late in the flight it suggests maybe a fuel problem but, I know, way to early to speculate....

PPrune has crashed too

Fox is reporting Richard Branson was on board?

kona

pclancy wrote: »

Good to see nobody seriously hurt, this will be interesting to see what happened as the 777s first major accident. Double engine failure on such a high tech aircraft though? So late in the flight it suggests maybe a fuel problem but, I know, way to early to speculate....

PPrune has crashed too

Fox is reporting Richard Branson was on board?

wasnt richard branson on /well still is on a 777 to china???

pclancy

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3204607.ece

The times now saying he was on board too.

Punchy07

The pilot apparentely said he lost both engine power and avionics and that he had to glide it in,couldnt imagine that's true,we'll soon find out I suppose

robinph

pclancy wrote: »

Fox is reporting Richard Branson was on board?

Branson was onboard the PM's chartered 777 that was taxing to take off for China at the time.

patto_chan

Very fortunate there were no fatalities.
There are second hand reports that the captain claims he lost all power while on the approach path. If so, he did a good job to get it down.
It will be interesting to hear the inquiry results.

And now some levity. Was Fr. Dougal on the plane?

kona

pclancy wrote: »

Good to see nobody seriously hurt, this will be interesting to see what happened as the 777s first major accident. Double engine failure on such a high tech aircraft though? So late in the flight it suggests maybe a fuel problem but, I know, way to early to speculate....

PPrune has crashed too

Fox is reporting Richard Branson was on board?

actually its not, a american carriers, i cant remember which one, their 777 ran out of fuel and had to glide in to land.......similar enough to todays incident

therecklessone

gatecrash wrote: »

On another hopefully, it was a one off mechanical failure, cos otherwise that flight crews career are over

How about we wait for the investigation to start (let alone finish) before we start apportioning blame? :rolleyes:

cyrusdvirus

kona wrote: »

actually its not, a american carriers, i cant remember which one, their 777 ran out of fuel and had to glide in to land.......similar enough to todays incident

Was that not an Air Canada 767??
The Gimli Glider? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

TRO wrote:

How about we wait for the investigation to start (let alone finish) before we start apportioning blame?

How about you think about the tone of the comment before having a go? I wasn't saying anyone is to blame, I was just hoping that no-ones career is in jeopardy over this....:rolleyes:back at ya....

*Kol*

Same happened to Air Transat Flight 236. Longest glide in history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

Interesting to hear the theories, but the investigation will reveal all hopefully. (Bit early to be sacking the crew:p)

Foggy43

*Kol*
How did you get that picture. Possibly from the TF stands but more than lightly for the Virgin / BMI base?

I could see the nose gear still intact from the 170/171 stands. Just a test! Do you know how much remaining fuel G-YMMM had on 'tochdown?'

Edit: With hindsight perhaps I should have went PM with that.

*Kol*

Foggy43 wrote: »

*Kol*
How did you get that picture. Possibly from the TF stands but more than lightly for the Virgin / BMI base?

I could see the nose gear still intact from the 170/171 stands. Just a test! Do you know how much remaining fuel G-YMMM had on 'tochdown?'

I got the pic from Sky News earlier!!

There was fuel on board?? There goes the gimly glider theories!!

cyrusdvirus

*Kol* wrote: »

(Bit early to be sacking the crew:p)

GRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:)

peter1892

Actually the Air Transat A330 incident popped into my head earlier as well....

Anyway, from the reports so far it does sound like the crew did a very good job in getting the plane down in (almost) one piece, and that the evacuation was handled perfectly.

As the old saying goes, a good landing is one you can walk away from!

Foggy43

It had 17,000 kgs of fuel remaining and was scheduled to return to PEK at 1635.

The AAIB hope to have some answers in 48 hours and a preliminary report in 30 days.

I am a little concerned about the 'cabbies' story. When you are driving on the perimiter road your view of the runway is deliberatly blocked. OK! If you are in a bus or lorry you will see the runway.

A Dub in Glasgo

I managed to get a flight out of Gatwick to Glasgow as all the internal flights from Heathrow were cancelled.

*Kol*

gatecrash wrote: »

GRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:)

Sorry! Couldn't resist.

Oilrig

This could have turned out so different, a lot of very lucky people out there tonight.

Can't see how this could have been a crew error, wx OK, home base, etc.

A little surprised at no comms between the a/c and the tower prior to the event though, notwithstanding the Aviate, Navigate, Communicate "rule", if you're going to hit the dirt you'd be pretty keen on giving the services a head start. The reported systems failure must have been total or occurred very late.

I'm sure there will be a lot of '77 drivers and operators watching this one very closely for developments.

Anyway, as happy an ending as you could ask for under the circumstances.

WexCan

Gatiwck surprisingly OK despite upwards of 25 diversions, all ran quite smoothly and had no delays to my flights today.

Cabin crew received no emergency briefing or brace commands, so they did quite well. All slides deployed and passengers evacuated quickly.

A very lucky outcome, could have been a lot worse considering the damage to the aircraft.

crisco10

Foggy43 wrote: »

It had 17,000 kgs of fuel remaining and was scheduled to return to PEK at 1635.

Where did you hear that about the fuel?

Foggy43

ACARS, That wonderful system that tells the ground what is going on.

Edit: I bet you want to know about the engines. As far as I am aware, by 3pm the 17th that is, we were unaware of any engine problems. I should have more info this evening.

kraggy

Oilrig wrote: »

A little surprised at no comms between the a/c and the tower prior to the event though, notwithstanding the Aviate, Navigate, Communicate "rule",

If it was a sudden loss of power as has been suspected (not confirmed in any respect), then Tower POSSIBLY will not have heard a peep from the pilots.

Action first. Then advisory some seconds later. If at all.

They would've been cleared to land 2-4 miles out. They might have been fine until seconds before contact (physically) with the ground. Then bang goes whatever.

Pilots do try to let ATC know about significant information regarding their circumstances. And that's imperative.

But not alway possible.

Sizzler

Was reading online this morning that the plane made an involuntary climb whilst also dropping the power back :eek: Looks like the aircraft management system went baloobas in a major way, theres another theory also that it may have been a bird strike.

Saw it close up as we departed off 27L at LHR last night, totally surreal. They were getting the heavy traffic away on 27R whilst also juggling landings. I saw an AA 777 sit there and watch 6 land in a row and there was no sign of him moving as we taxied past!

We got away about 1/3 away up 27L last night, kudos to the BMI pilot who rotated in no time at all

DublinDilbert

*Kol* wrote: »

Same happened to Air Transat Flight 236. Longest glide in history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

Interesting to hear the theories, but the investigation will reveal all hopefully. (Bit early to be sacking the crew:p)

The Air transit one was amazing that he managed to reach, and safely land on the run way in the Azores... I believe there is a cliff down one end of the run way in the Azores...

They had a fuel leek due to an incorrect part being fitted during an engine swap... Which leaked away all the fuel in one tank. When this happened the pilot consulted his manual which told him he should pump fuel into the empty (leaking) tank.... But he never monitored the situation to check that the level in the second tank was rising and pumped away all his fuel into the leak. I believe also the pilot didn't fully trust the fuel level indicators in the cockpit, it wasn't until the engines stopped that he thought he had a major problem.

Muggy Dev

While Willie Walsh was fullsome in his praise for the crew I thought it was interesting that B.A. did´nt ground their fleet of triple sevens as an immediate precaution.

*Kol*

Muggy Dev wrote: »

While Willie Walsh was fullsome in his praise for the crew I thought it was interesting that B.A. did´nt ground their fleet of triple sevens as an immediate precaution.

That was probably considered. Possibly info available from the pilots was able to determine that the cause of whatever happened was isolated to that aircraft?

APM

Captain Peter Burkill to make statement at 4pm. Will be live on BBC News 24/Sky news etc