Thursday, January 24, 2008

BA JET CRASH LANDS AT HEATHROW

There was drama at Heathrow Airport last week after a British Airways passenger jet carrying over a hundred passengers and crew crash landed. Eyewitnesses described how they saw the aircraft “drop like a stone as it “seesawed” on approach with its nose bobbing up and down, stopping short of the runway. It was only thanks to the skilful actions of the captain who managed to glide the plane safely over nearby houses and roads, that a serious disaster was averted. It is thought that engine failure was responsible as the plane (on it’s way back from Beijing), lost power just before coming into land. The plane’s undercarriage was sheared and one wing was almost torn off as it skidded to a halt. Fortunately all the passengers and crew managed to escape to safety with only twelve requiring hospital treatment for minor injuries.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had a close call himself as his motorcade was on the road beneath the aircraft when it ran into difficulties. Mr Brown was on his way to Heathrow to board a flight to China and India from a nearby runway. His flight was delayed by the incident, the most serious to be experienced at Heathrow for decades. A full investigation has been launched to try and determine the cause of the crash.

3 comments:

Sheila said...

Kudos to the flight team for a wonderful job in saving lives. I was truly impressed.

Rick Rockhill said...

that must have been scary for the passengers. I fly a lot and always wonder about things like that. They say take off and landing are more dangerous than actuallybeing up at cruising altitude.

Naomi said...

Yes he did a wonderful job Sheila.

I'm sure it was Rick. I've heard that too about take off and landing being more dangerous than actually being up in the air.