Posted on 01/17/2008 10:18:27 AM PST by Maggie Maggie Maggie
The British Airways plane which crash landed at Heathrow apparently lost all power and avionics coming in to land.
An unnamed worker at Heathrow said the pilot of the BA flight, which was carrying 136 passengers, deserved "a medal as big as a frying pan".
The worker, who spoke to the pilot shortly after the dramatic landing, said: "He told me the aircraft shut down and lost power.
"He glided it across and managed to get the nose up. It happened very close to coming in to land, probably over Hounslow.
"Everything was normal and there was no warning or anything and suddenly 'boom', the power’s gone.
"This man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan. He’s done a fantastic job, he really has."
Witness said they saw the plane bank sharply to the left as it made its approach, and miss the tops of houses by 200ft. As it struggled to reach the airport it missed hitting the perimeter fence by inches.
Others spoke of sparks as the undercarriage, which was severely damaged, hit the tarmac. There was also extensive damage to both wings and two of the plane's giant wheel units were ripped off.
Eyewitness Neil Jones said he had seen the plane making a "very, very unusual approach" to Heathrow and praised the "desperate" pilot.
Speaking to BBC24, Mr Jones went on: "The aircraft was banking to the left and it was coming in very low over the surrounding houses. The plane was significantly lower than it would normally be."
Mr Jones added:"You could see the pilot was desperate, trying to get the plane down. The aircraft hit the grass and there was a lot of dirt. The pilot was struggling to keep the plane straight. I think he did a great job."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
There were high winds at Heathrow today too.
If true, whoa!
Somebody better buy that crew a beer!
http://live1.wm.skynews.servecast.net/skynews_wmlz_live300k?MSWMExt=.asf
Sky news is airing a report now on the i-net.
.....Bob
What kind of airplane? Was it an Airbus? Curious if it was fly by wire.....
The pilot did a great job.
Boeing, apparently did not.
Put on your tinfoil caps. Al-Qaeda EMP attack!
I am not a conspiracy type guy and did not think of that immediately, but certainly it should be looked into.
Aren't they all?
777
Plane has a good record, probably a one off.
EMP would have taken out other stuff in the area.....but I see by your tinfoil hat quip that you figured that.
He may have lost engine power but I doubt the avionics quit. I'm pretty sure planes like the 777 have electronic everything including activation of control surfaces. There's no way to land a plane that cannot be controlled.
ML/NJ
WOW! I’m getting goose pimples! He saved many lives if true.
"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."
Jeez, how do you lose all systems like that?
I don’t believe for a minute it was EMP but small, tactical EMP units exist which are highly directional. Didn’t happen here, though.
What kind of plane was it?
I think that is an interesting turn of phrase.
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