News on the BBC News 24 reports of an incident at Heathrow airport. A BA 777 has fallen short of the runway although there seems to be little other news at the moment...more to follow!!!
Live pics on BBC show the 777 landed on the grass near Hatton Cross and it currently is sitting on its belly on the piano keys of 27L. Everyone evacuated, minor casualties
Thankfully no significant injuries, it seems to have gone some distance on the mud. It is remarkable they stopped so soon. Does anybody know if anyone was there?
AirSpace - more than just hot air
BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson is on the delayed aircraft that Gordon Brown is on. He is currently reporting on the phone, blatantly breaking rules there
An eye witness on the aircraft said that nobody was told within the aircraft of any troubles, he said they just landed heavily and then the oxygen masks started to come down!
Aircraft involved reported to be G-YMMM. Early eye-witnesses reported a very non-standard approach with a very late turn to line up on the runway.
Eclipse
More pics:
http://www.flightglobal.com/AirSpace/photos/baboeing777accident/default.aspx
Flight's are now being diverted to Luton. Not really sure how they will cope with the traffic.
Delivered new to BA May 2001
sn 30314
Video of the aftermath can be found at the Aviation Safety Network.
My wings are like a shield of steel.
Just seen some footage on BBC's 9:00 news of the 777 landing, taken by someone outside the Airport. The landing attitude of the aircraft seemed to be increasing at a higher angle than normal so the pilot's did an extraordinary job in getting this jet onto the Airport itself.
Huge well done, excellent airmanship.
Hi guys, as someone who did a bit of work a few years ago on BA's 777 (no ,not this one), does any one know if the ram air turbine deployed? Am sure that it auto deploys on loss of power. Although may have been to late to do much good.
Nice idea to use YouTube, but it didn't work for me earlier - maybe too much demand.
What's the stall speed of that aircraft ?
Here is a Google maps picture of the Heathrow area where the incident happened
A very shot clip of the aircraft on final has appeared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYwQ4EHQY8Y
Hi Goose, your picture in the first post and your comments in this about the damage caused by the main gear separating are revealing. The main gear is usually attached to a major structural member, in this case the aft wing spar. The picture confirms that the level of damage done to the wing is severe and I have no doubt the integrity of the fuel tank has been compromised in a major way. Now ask yourself, what's missing from the picture? The answer is Fuel.
The damage caused by the main gear separating should have resulted in a major fire. Since there was none, it's pretty safe to speculate on the reason why.