BA plane crash-lands at Heathrow
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A British Airways plane crash-landed at London’s Heathrow airport yesterday, , slightly injuring 18 passengers and raising questions why the Boeing 777 flying in from Beijing landed short of the runway. Reuters said the landing extensively damaged the plane’s wings and ripped off its undercarriage.
It quoted aviation commentators as saying that 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.
Aviation expert Julian Bray, quoted by The Telegraph, said it appeared the plane “suffered a very late technical incident which caused a catastrophic total loss of power in one or more engines”.
He had also suggested birds could have been sucked into the engines, which could have caused a power loss.
BA did not comment on reports of a loss of power but BA’s chief executive, Willie Walsh, praised the flight and cabin crew for doing a “magnificent job”, the Independent reported.
It added that the captain of the aircraft, Peter Burkill, 43, had nearly 20 years’ experience with BA.
An airport spokesman was quoted saying that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was inspecting the aircraft.
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