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.

 

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

 

 

BBC Pics

 

Crash Site

WOW :stunned:

I always fly on BA 777's and always sit on or just behind the left side wing. Maybe not such a good idea by this pic. :stunned:

Thank god they landed safety.

 

That could have been a hell of a lot worst if the plane landed wrong or hit something.

The mystery of flight BA038

 

Mystery still surrounds the crashed British Airways Boeing 777

 

Why did a modern airliner, with an experienced crew on board, suddenly lose power in the seconds before landing?

 

It is a question that many in the aviation industry simply can't stop asking. The mystery of flight BA038 intrigues them in so many ways.

 

The Air Accident Investigation Branch is admired around the world as the gold standard in crash investigation. Its experts are either experienced pilots or engineers.

 

Their task: to produce a highly detailed report of the crash that explains, rather than blames.

 

Pulling together information from a variety of sources, including the AAIB's initial reports, it's possible to describe the last minute of the flight.

 

BA038 had been descending gradually into Heathrow, the autopilot and the automatic throttle system controlling the aircraft.

 

As the handling pilot, first officer John Coward would have been preparing to take manual control below 1,000 feet.

 

Warning signs

 

The trouble started two miles out at 600 feet, as the plane was slowing down in its landing configuration.

 

At this point the engines would have required more power to keep the plane from sinking below the glideslope - an invisible three degree path down to the runway, generated by radio waves.

 

When the automatic throttle demanded more power, the engines initially responded. Then first the right engine, followed eight seconds later by the left, powered down - to a level below the thrust needed.

 

Warnings would have flashed up on engine monitoring screens in the centre of the control panel, showing the power was below that required.

 

A lower screen would have shown more detailed information about the flow of fuel around the aircraft. The primary displays would show the likely height the plane would descend to in the next minute.

 

Faced with the knowledge that a disaster was in the making, the crew had around 40 seconds to save their aircraft. It's understood the captain Peter Burkill quickly reduced the amount of wing flaps deployed.

 

This was as important as the skilful manipulation of the control column by John Coward, in saving the aircraft. It cuts drag, speeds the plane up a little, and when a pilot has speed, he can maintain altitude.

 

But it would only delay the inevitable - the plane would have been losing both speed and height, a potentially catastrophic situation.

 

Close call

 

The 150 tonne Boeing just cleared the busy A30, the airport perimeter fence, and a radio mast before crashing to the ground in a stall - where the plane can simply fly no longer.

 

There would have been further warnings in the cockpit, including the stick-shaker, where the controls vibrate to alert the pilots.

 

But the quick actions and training of the crew had saved many lives.

 

The latest information from the investigation has removed some of the possible causes from the list.

 

The plane had not run out of fuel, and there is no mention of birds being sucked into the engines, or violent blasts of wind throwing it off course.

 

In fact, both engines were turning as the plane hit the ground.

 

Significantly the AAIB has said "the autothrottle and engine control commands were performing as expected", suggesting no failure of a data link between the automatic systems and the engines.

 

Instead the investigators specifically mention the plane's fuel system.

 

The Boeing 777 has three fuel tanks - one in the centre that is used up first, and one on each wing, which would have been in use during the later stages of the flight.

 

There are six different pumps to push the fuel to the engines. If any pump fails, fuel can be routed via an alternate.

 

If an engine fails the fuel can be 'balanced' between the wings to take account of the one-sided thrust, and the fact that the tank on one wing will empty faster than the other.

 

Fuel examination

 

Keeping everything working is an 'electronic engine control', part of a system called the FADEC which monitors the power needed.

 

This takes into account a range of variables including: the configuration of the aircraft, the condition of the outside air, the state of the engines themselves, and of course, the position of the plane's throttles.

 

This system knows the limitations of the engines and stops them being damaged by heat or pressure. Crucially it is supposed to work independently of the plane's autopilot, to make sure the engines function properly.

 

It is this collection of computers, tanks, pumps, sensors and their backups, which the investigators are examining closely.

 

The crashed plane was eventually moved to a hangar at Heathrow

 

But they will also be examining the fuel. It might have been contaminated. Or fuel 'waxing' may have occurred.

 

This results from partial freezing, and pilots say the outside air temperature at some altitudes en route to the UK was down to minus 70 degrees that day - some of the coldest readings they could remember.

 

There are heating systems to bring the fuel up to the temperature required. Perhaps these failed.

 

Close scrutiny

 

The US Federal Aviation Administration has identified previous seven incidents involving Boeing 777s where ice and melting water clogged up the sensors and pressure lines of the FADEC system, preventing it from controlling the engines properly.

 

The biggest concern was that this could happen on both engines simultaneously, a scenario eerily similar to last week's crash.

 

The FAA's findings only related to General Electric GE90 aircraft engines. The pair on the British Airways Boeing were Rolls Royce engines. Maybe they suffered a similar problem.

 

At least modern airliners provide investigators with the maximum amount of information possible. Every aspect of the plane's performance was recorded, including the words of the crew.

 

It could be weeks before the mystery of flight BA038 is solved. The airline industry is waiting, with great anticipation, for answers.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7208126.stm