BA 777 Lands Short

[athomeinthesky]

Heathrow Airport was left paralysed this afternoon, after a BA flight was forced to make an emergency landing on its return from China.

All available fire engine cover was deployed to assist the stricken flight BA38 from Beijing after it fell short of the runway, after reportedly approaching the ground at an angle. Three passengers are reported to have sustained minor injuries.

Embarrassingly for British Airways and the aviation authorities, the incident occurred as the Prime Minister and Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin boss, awaited to depart for a five-day trade visit to China and India.
It is believed the stricken flight eventually came to a halt, just 1000m from the Prime Minister's flight. There is believed to be no terrorist link.

A spokesman for British Airways said: "We can confirm flight BA38 carried out an emergency landing at 12.42pm. Passengers have been evacuated. The south runway is closed. The northern runway is currently operating. Emergency services were at the scene immediately."

Aviation expert, Philip Butterworth Hayes said: "All I can say is that these events are very unusual and the undercarriage (of the plane) has performed as it should have done it.

"Basically, if an aircaft makes such a landing there could well be debris on the runway and that needs to be cleared away."

Television footage showed the plane stranded at the end of the runway, with all of its emergency chutes inflated.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3204607.ece






An international passenger plane has crash landed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport.

Passengers escaped down the emergency chutes after British Airways flight BA38 from Beijing came down.

Six ambulances were sent to the scene and three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

The incident happened as Prime Minister Gordon Brown was due to leave Heathrow for China and India. His flight was delayed because of the incident.

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

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.

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

Huge amount of smoke

Another eyewitness, Nick Gray, told BBC News: "We were taxiing along ready to take off and certainly out of the window I could see a plane coming in to land.

"I'm not quite sure if the under carriage was missing or not, but certainly what we saw was the plane coming down.

"There were some sparks as the undercarriage or the bottom of the plane actually touched the runway - certainly a huge amount of smoke coming up from that.

"And then the plane did come to a halt reasonably quickly.

"It was incredibly efficient the speed that people got off the aircraft.

"I could see that the chutes were deployed very quickly and people were coming down on that.

"Then people were sent off to the nearby buildings which are probably only about 200 yards away from the plane.

"There about six fire engines there now.

"There seems to have been regular dousing of foam on the port engine which obviously probably was the hottest one where the plane landed.

"Certainly there is a lot of activity and lots of vehicles with flashing lights all around the plane."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7194086.stm

[HMS CALPE]

Great post, thank you.

[West_Indian400]

I was trying to get on to pprune.com this morning, and I got a message saying server busy, (that's not why I came here)...and I wondered what could be so special today on this plain ol' Thursday morning that would have the place so busy??... Did an A380 crash or something??
Later surfing on airliners.net I saw the photo and then the penny dropped- everyone wants the scoop I guess.

[Doug Taylor]

Nah, a 777 landed a bit short in LHR today. Pretty big story on BBC UK over here in Italy.

That and the cricket finals...

[Qgar]

Aaaah, Italia -- the motherland....
How are my paesans treating you?

[Doug Taylor]

Good! Sitting here in Milan and lemme check, yup COCKTAIL TIME! See you guys later!

[taseal]

Originally Posted by WildCougar

Aaaah, Italia -- the motherland....
How are my paesans treating you?

can you speak italian?

oh and what caused for the plane to land short? (what was the emergency?)

[PGT]

Captain of the flight said he lost all power and avionics...[according to bbc]

[Qgar]

Originally Posted by taseal

can you speak italian?

oh and what caused for the plane to land short? (what was the emergency?)

Unfortunately, I cannot. I know the basics and of course, the curse words!

[srleslie]

I'm assuming this is a total airframe lost, correct? If so I think that makes this the first for the 777.

It is purely speculation at this point, but if they had lost all electrical power and avionics, it kind of reminds me of the QANTAS 747 the other week. Kinda scary eh...

[taseal]

Originally Posted by WildCougar

Unfortunately, I cannot. I know the basics and of course, the curse words!

then you are not italian

[taseal]

Originally Posted by PGT

Captain of the flight said he lost all power and avionics...[according to bbc]

well that sucks... pretty rare for such thing to happen. I mean lose everything? wow...

[Qgar]

OK, you win!! I'm actually Sicilian!
What's it to ya? What are you?

[taseal]

Originally Posted by WildCougar

OK, you win!! I'm actually Sicilian!
What's it to ya? What are you?

lol

i'm turkish

[I_Money]

'A medal as big as a frying pan' I LOVE IT

[Minuteman]

Originally Posted by PGT

Captain of the flight said he lost all power and avionics...[according to bbc]

Not to be a nit, but is that a direct quote from the Capt? The only thing I've seen that indicates that was the case, was a quote from a passenger who says he spoke with the crew. But there was a separate quote from another passenger who says he didn't think anything was wrong until the aircraft touched the ground.

That said, its definitely unlikely everything was working correctly. From the pictures I've seen it looks like both main gear went through the top of the wings. I haven't seen information about ATC communicaiton (i.e., if they called a PAN PAN or whatever they do over there when then needle hits "E").

[surreal1221]

One hell of a short field landing. . .

[777forever]

This is a first for a 777

[SeanD]

No fuel causes loss of power to run avionics causing plane to land short. I sure hope thats not the case or someone is going to have some splainin to do. I suppose we will have to wait and see.

Aviation expert, Philip Butterworth Hayes? mmmm pancakes

[West_Indian400]

Looks like a total write-off... well almost...List of spare parts that may be re-useable: Seats Cushions, Seat Covers, Carpets, IFE (AVOD) if equipped, Slides (those that are not torn), Life vests under seats, Rudder, Doors, Hinges and other fittings, Overhead bins, Various Light fittings,Cockpit window glass and trim, Navigation Lights, Avionics etc.We could probably be seeing the worlds 'most profitable' crash! Thankfully there was no loss of life, a big fat check from their insurance company (for a newish 777), savings in spare parts when reparing other 777s and they would have possibly made a tidy profit on the accident. And we would all feel better in nowing that the spirit of G-YMMM will live on in the next few 777s in for a D- check.

[JimmyK]

Originally Posted by West_Indian400

Looks like a total write-off... well almost...List of spare parts that may be re-useable: Seats Cushions, Seat Covers, Carpets, IFE (AVOD) if equipped, Slides (those that are not torn), Life vests under seats, Rudder, Doors, Hinges and other fittings, Overhead bins, Various Light fittings,Cockpit window glass and trim, Navigation Lights, Avionics etc.We could probably be seeing the worlds "most profitable" crash! Thankfully there was no loss of life, a big fat check from their insurance company (for a newish 777), savings in spare parts when reparing other 777s and they would have possibly made a tidy profit on the accident. And we would all feel better in gnowing that the spirit of G-YMMM will live on in the next 777 in for a D- check.

If the insurance company writes a check for the totaled airplane I don't think BA will be able to keep it and sell it for parts.

[JayAre]

Its always to be little long than a little short



...in landing planes

[West_Indian400]

Originally Posted by JimmyK

If the insurance company writes a check for the totaled airplane I don't think BA will be able to keep it and sell it for parts.

you might have a point there....

[FlySooner9]

reports that i've read says they lost power at 500ft AGL. There was a direct quote somewhere that the captain said he had to glide it in. Im to lazy right now to find it though

[PGT]

Originally Posted by Minuteman

Not to be a nit, but is that a direct quote from the Capt? The only thing I've seen that indicates that was the case, was a quote from a passenger who says he spoke with the crew. But there was a separate quote from another passenger who says he didn't think anything was wrong until the aircraft touched the ground.

direct quote, he said he lost power and avionics and had to glide it in.

Here's my question:
Losing the engines will cut power to the a/c but what about the battery? If they were at 500' when he lost it, I doubt the battery would run out of juice that quickly. Also, doesn't the battery power the emergency chutes? If so then why didn't it power the avionics for the last 500 feet or so.