Plane Lands Short Of Runway At Heathrow

Passengers Safely Evacuated; British PM Gordon Brown's Trip To China Delayed

(CBS/AP)  A British Airways jet carrying 152 people crash landed Thursday at Heathrow airport, tearing its underbelly, damaging its wings and skidding to a halt before emergency chutes deployed. All aboard escaped safely, but eight people were hurt.

Fire trucks surrounded the Boeing 777, which had taken off from Beijing, after it landed early in the afternoon, spraying fire retardant foam around the aircraft.

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 British Broadcasting Corp.

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

London Ambulance Service said eight people had been taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

CBS News reported that passengers were treated for cuts and bruises.

The accident at 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 half a mile away.

The crash forced Europe's busiest airport to temporarily halt departures and arrivals while emergency crews worked at the scene. Planes were still taking off and landing on Heathrow's northern runway, air traffic control company Nats said. Some other flights were diverted to other airports, Heathrow said on its Web site.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch was investigating, British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh told reporters, adding the airline didn't want to speculate on the cause.

The passengers had been taken to a center, where airline staff were looking after them, Walsh said.

"The customers on board the aircraft are generally in good spirits, I know they are anxious to get back to their friends," Walsh said. "They are being interviewed by the police until all the relevant details have been taken."

It was the first accident involving the Boeing 777 since the plane entered service in 1995, said Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier in Seattle.

The Boeing 777, one of 42 in the BA fleet, was relatively new at 6-years-old, Walsh said.

"The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years," he said.

Emergency workers surrounded the plane and firefighters sprayed fire retardant foam as a precaution as the 16-member crew evacuated passengers on inflatable chutes.

Passenger Jerome Ensinck told the BBC that he at first thought the plane had made a hard landing.

"There was no indication that we were going to have a bad landing," he said. "When we hit the ground it was extremely rough."

"Then the emergency exits were opened and we were all told we should go through as quickly as possible, and the moment I was away from the plane I started to realize that the undercarriage was away, and we had missed the runway, Ensinck said.

"Now I realize I've had a close call," he said.

Robert Cullemore of Aviation Economics, a London-based aviation consultancy, said a pilot from a competing airline told him officials believed the cause of the accident was wind shear, a sudden gust of wind.

"It can happen anytime anywhere and if it happens you just hope there is no airplane nearby," Cullemore said.

He said the pilot kept the plane in the air long enough to prevent a disastrous outcome.

"If it had landed 200 meters 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.

[brit1958]

You guys are a bunch of a%s%h%oles, people nearly die out there and you make stupid jokes and quips, if this had happened in US you would be spinning a totally different tune.
Have some respect, and sympathy folks!

[juwboy]

First one engine, then the other, lost power at about 1000 ft. as the plane was approaching the runway. The pilot raised the nose of the plane and glided down, landing just short of the runway.

Passengers interviewed after the crash said there were no announcements and, although the landing was rough, it was not out-of-the-ordinary to an experienced passenger. Passengers away from the windows were unaware of any problem until the emergency chutes were deployed. As a result, there was no panic and the passengers were evacuated from the plane in an orderly fashion.

[stevens1985]

Had the plane skidded another 400 metres in the same direction it was travelling, it would have hit the aircraft containing the Prime Minister, and no doubt burst in to a ball of flames. Perhaps worse than all those people dying, Harriet Harman would have become Prime Minister! Thank God for good pilots.

[whitecat151]

I pretty much assume that most of the comments here are made by non-pilot type folks....

Thee must understand that the beast between your legs does not always perform in a way that you expect.

Wind Shear or Total Power Loss is the ultimate nightmare of any heavy airplane pilot (or a light airplane pilot for that matter)... especially when it occurs over populated areas during the landing process of being low and slow. (think about it)

Thank Gawd that this pilot left some "hundreds of meters long skid marks" where instead the circumstance could have left a "hundreds of meters long path of dead bodies"

Seems to me that this particular pilot would be someone I would honor and appreciate if he flys the airplane I am in.

Best Regards,

WC

[incog-nito]

I told them that runway was too short, and they never listened! Now see what happened?

[toolmangler-2009]

The cause was global warming. The extra heat caused the earth to expand making China and Britan a few hundred feet further apart.
Posted by downsteamjim at 07:55 PM : Jan 17, 2008



good one, LOL

[downsteamjim]

The cause was global warming. The extra heat caused the earth to expand making China and Britan a few hundred feet further apart.

[toolmangler-2009]

he was more than likely waving to his "sweet-young-thing" on the ground and failed to note the upcoming turf. Brit pilots always did fancy themselve as a bit of a lover. I hope they are better ''lovers'' than pilots. ;)

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by speakinup at 06:42 PM : Jan 17, 2008



Our friends across the pond, would not go easy on us ''Yanks'' were it to happen here, And you are right, the majority are writing ''tongue in cheek" so to speak, but, Hey! it''s the limeys turn in the barrel and we have to keep things on an even keel.

[scottyusa]

American built Boeing aircraft crash lands. No explosions and no fire. Built in the good old USA!

[speakinup]

I''ll assume most folks posting here are speaking tongue-in-cheek. I mean, wind shear can happen to anyone.

Spectrum108 & sky5 - Those lousy brit genes did ok for them in ''39.

[j_flood]

My guess: captain ran out of fuel. Could be wrong but a couple of eyewitnesses said it came by then dead quiet.

Glad no one seriously hurt, where''s the claim forms for ''lost or damaged'' baggage?

[dnamj]

Attention Lost Luggage Dept...

The undercarriage was gone? Looks like a lot of lost luggage. I hope there were no pets down there.

[extremophil]

Stupid short runway.

[whitecat151]

Just glad every one made it out. Like they say" Any landing that you can walk away from is a good one"

Posted by USMCGeorge at 09:29 AM : Jan 17, 2008

+

heh heh heh, true... however, it''s also to say that "any landing where you can use the airplane again is a better landing". :)

[thgdriver]

Made in China, what did you expect?

[gunnerv1]

I can''t wait for when "Hill-Force One" makes a crash landing. LOL ;)

[gunnerv1]

So what was the Emergency?

[vet999999]

Can you spell eye test?
Glad everyone got out....

[missingamerica]

Somebody miscalculate the pounds of fuel required by a hair?