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Heathrow Struggles to Get Passengers Home After Crash Landing

by Rob Walker | January 18, 2008 at 07:39 am

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After the crash landing that ended in 8 minor injuries and a British Airways pilot being hailed as a hero, Heathrow airport is still trying to bring people home. According to a new report, two engines on the plane failed to respond on its landing approach, causing it to fall too quickly.[q
url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7196962.stm"]Two
engines on a plane that crash-landed at Heathrow failed to respond to
demands for thrust, a preliminary report has said.

Despite continued demands for power the Boeing 777 "descended
rapidly", landing short of the runway, the Air Accident Investigations
Branch (AAIB) said.

As the plane struck the ground on Thursday the right landing gear broke off from the wing, the report said.

The jet encountered problems just two miles from the airport, it confirmed.[/q]

Link to a NP story on the pilot.

There's an interview with the pilot here:[q
url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7196526.stm"]"As
British Airways flight and cabin crew we are trained on a regular basis
to deal with emergency situations," he said.

"We have procedures to follow and everyone knows their place.

"Flying is about teamwork and we had an outstanding team on board."[/q]Check out our previous NowPublic Coverage here.

London's Heathrow airport, the busiest international airport in the world, struggled to return to normal on Friday, one day after a Boeing 777 crash landed causing travel chaos but only minor injuries.

British Airways said it planned to operate all of its long haul flights and up to 90 percent of short haul departures, but advised passengers to call ahead for flight information.

Just over 50 flights, mostly short haul, were cancelled on Friday morning.

All 136 passengers walked away from BA flight 83 from Beijing on Thursday after it crash landed well short of the southern runway following what aviation experts said appeared to be a massive power loss on its final approach.

Newspapers were full of praise for pilot Peter Burkill, hailing him as the saviour of hundreds of lives as he guided the striken jet over the densely-populated area under the flight path to the west of London.

The investigation, aided by the retrieval of the black box from the plane, continues today.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the UK's Department for Transport is now investigating the incident. A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is also heading to London, accompanied by representatives from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration.