 J.B. Stone
Joined: 11 Apr 2003 Total posts: 42146 Location: Northwest Montana Age: 61 Gender: Male
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 Posted: 01/ 17/ 08 6:24 pm Post subject: Crash Landing Temporarily Paralyzes Heathrow |
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Crash Landing Temporarily Paralyzes Heathrow
Stefan Rousseau/Press Association, via Associated Press
A British Airways Boeing 777 touched down short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport on Thursday.
By ALAN COWELL
Published: January 18, 2008
LONDON — A British Airways passenger jet crash-landed just short of a runway at London’s Heathrow airport on Thursday, plowing a way across open grassland before skidding to a halt when it hit the tarmac with parts of its undercarriage torn off.
Three people were slightly injured and the airport — one of the world’s busiest — was closed temporarily, according to officials from the ambulance and aviation authorities. The disruptive effects of the closure on trans-Atlantic and European air traffic were not immediately clear.
The jet, a twin-engined Boeing 777, was in the final minutes of a scheduled flight — BA 38 — from Beijing. Witnesses interviewed by British news organizations said the plane, with 136 passengers on board, seemed to be banking steeply to make its final approach to Heathrow with its engines on full power.
Neil Jones, a recreational pilot interviewed by the BBC, said the airplane did not appear to be making the usual straight-line approach into Heathrow but had banked in sharply from one side. The plane’s flaps and landing gear both seemed to be in their normal positions for a landing, he said.
Both Mr. Jones and another witness said the plane’s engines were making much more noise than usual on approach, suggesting that the pilot was seeking to use the plane’s power to avoid losing height.
A cab driver on his way to Heathrow said the plane seemed to clip a perimeter fence on its approach. Television footage showed what appeared to be a pair of undercarriage wheels lying on a grassy area before the runway.
The Boeing came to rest with wing and engine damage. Emergency chutes had sprouted from each side of the plane to enable passengers to evacuate the stricken aircraft, which had been doused in foam by the fire services.
One of the other airplanes at Heathrow prevented from taking off by the alert carried British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a delegation of business leaders heading to China and India.
The incident happened several hundred yards from the Boeing 747 used by Mr. Brown and police said there was no reason to believe that the episode was terrorism-related. Parts of Heathrow were re-opened soon after the incident, permitting Mr. Brown’s plane to take off. But some incoming aircraft were diverted to other airports.
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