British Airways 747 and SriLankan Airlines A340 incident last night. Link courtesy of BBC:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7046224.stm
More here:
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/10/16/218588/ba-and-sri-lankan-aircraft-strike-wingtips-at-heathrow.html
Sounds like Sri Lanka's fault
And a snap courtesy of a BBC punter:
Looks like a new winglet for the 747 ...
I am not dismissing a safety related incident, but I can’t believe it is making so much news. Although they shouldn’t, these mishaps happen frequently at airports around the world. We don’t here about them unless an eager journalist from one of the national news agencies latches on because it is simply not news. Anybody from the aviation community will know just how common incidents at airports are.
Having said all of this, it should be investigated and safety management systems and SOPs should be revised as a result. Anybody that is deemed to have done wrong should be retrained to help prevent further incidents. You will never entirely stop human error, but you can reduce the risk.
LHR has come under criticism lots lately and this certainly can't help matters.
wingtip collisions unfortunately are frequent occurences because the area is congested and poorly designed. With a bit of luck things will improve when T5 is up and running. Until then, more care and attention is needed.
agree - this is no Ariana:
however, presumably someone's at fault. my guess is that someone tried to squeeze a plane through and smaller-than-plane-sized hole.
Hey i have heard a rumour that the BA 747 that hit the Sri Lankan A340 had only one winglet. Very interesting news...
AirSpace - more than just hot air
Maverick:Hey i have heard a rumour that the BA 747 that hit the Sri Lankan A340 had only one winglet. Very interesting news...
Interesting, how? Careful there, Mav. You're starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist....
An aircraft flying with only one winglet is a more common occurrence than you might think. It's completely safe and well within the scope of any given airline's standard operating procedures. It just adds a little more drag to one wing.
Anyway, G-BNLL has only been flying with one winglet since the accident happened. The missing winglet wasn't missing when the incident occurred.
Titch
Vidi, Vici, Veni. I saw, I conquered, I came.
Titch:Interesting, how? Careful there, Mav. You're starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist....
I was just trying to spice things up a little, make it a bit like the X files
The truth is out there (but you won't hear it from BA)..... Ha ha.