Flight crash-lands at Heathrow
Eighteenpeople were injured and fire engines smothered the aircraft in foam after the landing at the worlds busiest international airport extensively damaged its wings and ripped off its undercarriage.
The wheels of the plane, which had a routine maintenance check in December, were still in the field where it crashed, several hundred metres from the runway and an investigation as to why the Boeing 777 flying in from China landed short of the runway is underway.
Aviation commentators said the fact that the plane only just cleared the perimeter fence, hit the ground well short of the runway and then slid to a halt pointed to a massive loss of power in the final stages of landing.
BBC television was quoting the pilot as saying he had lost all power and had to glide the plane in.
I win the lottery today, Fernando Prado, one of the 136 passengers on board, said after being safely evacuated by emergency chute from the wreckage.
He said the landing gear appeared to fail. I saw the engine on the tarmac. Everything was over quickly. There was no panic at all, he told BBC News.
Another passenger, Paul Venter, said the plane had suddenly dropped as it came in to land.
The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldnt tell you how far, the AFP news agency reported him saying.
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 didnt speak to the pilot, but I saw him, and he looked very pale.
An airport spokesman said in a statement that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was inspecting the aircraft.
BA Flight 38 arriving from Beijing made an emergency landing at 12.42pm, he said.
Passengers were immediately evacuated and taken to a reception centre at the airport.
BAA said 221 flights, from a normal flying schedule of 1,300, had been cancelled of which only eight were long haul.
However, while it had been allowed a limited number of night flights to soak up the backlog, it warned passengers planning to travel on Friday to check ahead.
The ambulance service said three people were slightly injured. British Airways said it had no comment to offer on why the plane came down.
In a statement, BA chief executive Willie Walsh described his crew, which he said followed safety procedures to the letter, as magnificent.
The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years, he said.
A London police spokeswoman said: There is nothing to suggest it is terror-related.
One eyewitness, Steve Bell, said the wheels were not down on landing, and he heard a grating noise.
It turned about 90 degrees on landing. Its wheels were not down. Within minutes fire crews arrived and evacuated all the passengers, he told BBC News 24 television.
Among the planes delayed was a flight British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was taking on an official trip to India and China.
- with AAP
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 6:06 pm under