Les, from what the bloke on Sky News just said it hasn't even made the runway, gear was down OK but it just fell out of the sky and landed in the ILS equipment area! No warnings to the passengers for brace so must have been a last minute fault.

Sounds like it fell out of the sky just inside the perimeter fence, I wonder if it was a microburst/wind shear induced stall? :eek:

How glad am I that we landed a few hours ago ! lol

Glad everyone seems ok though.
Looks messy

There are some real tossers on this web site making light of a very serious incident . Most of you would have been ****ting yourselves.

So it's likely due to a technical fault, or could this be pilot error? The news articles on this don't seem to be speculating the cause of the accident- just saying it 'landed short' - but why?

The BBC are the worst. Consistent attempts to get passengers who were on board to say they were terrified/scared/screaming etc.

If you listen to the passengers being interviewed on the news none of them so far realised much was wrong until the plane stopped and the chutes came out, they just thought it was a very bumpy landing! :eek:

I haven't read anybody laughing about it either? :wonder:

Someone has just mentioned coming in at completly the wrong approach angle.
Lets wait and see what the press release says.
30 mins time apparently.

Get a grip, no-one was injured.

Not likely to be Pilot error I would have thought Pete, a Captain of a 777 is going to have some serious hours under their belts and isn't likely just to chuck it into the ground. Does seem strange circumstances for a mechanical though, could even be something freak weather related like somebody suggested earlier.

Thought id stick up a pic for the lazy...

https://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/sp...7689/img/1.jpg

it said on five life it was a very short approach with a 90 degree turn,

only guessing but it sounds like he was leatherin it to get in

Captain says he lost all power before landing and had to glide in.

Chip

As Chip says, BBC now quoting via a third party the captain saying that he lost all power/avoinics at the last minute and had to glide in.
Very lucky that it worked out as it did - could have been very messy if they had not made the perimiter of the airfield.

Surely though if he had lost ALL power as he says then he would have just been a passenger himself as the tail , wingflaps etc are all hydraulically powered as well.

Chip

If he's glided that in there then he's done one hell of a job.

That's what's being reported but as you point out the pilot would not have been able to infuence anything at all if it were the case. There must have been power from somewhere for him to be able to keep the nose up.
Does the aux power unit supply the avionics systems?

I would have thought if the engines shut down totally the passengers would have noticed, not of them have reported that - perhaps after throttling down during the descent they wouldn't power up again? That would have maintained enough power for control surfaces / lights etc (something else nobody has mentioned going off) but not enough power to make the runway.

Just glad everyone is OK.
Air crashes make me feel physically sick......:(

Alcazar

:eek:

Glad everyone is ok!

I thought the point of an APU was to give basic power for an aircraft in case of engine failure. I'm sure Les will be along soon to tell us if when an aircraft losses all engine power if they can still manoeuvre.

My thoughts entirely, thank goodness all are ok.

chop :)

ps- looking forward to hear what les has to say about this...

Only 3 minor injuries thank god.

Despite all the hype surrounding this incident it is by far still the safest way to travel as well..

Chip

If you lose engines/electrics you drop the RAT - Ram Air Turbine - which will give you sufficient electrical and hydraulic power to make a controlled crash.

SB

Just about to book Heathrow to Beijing with BA for October this year :eek:

Deploy your own 777 RAT here!
Boeing 777: Hydraulic

Just got back from the crash scene. Gear is about 150mtrs away from then plane. From what i could see the fence has been hit by the gear as he came in. The plane impacted the grass short of 27L, and it looks from where the grass is cut up that he missed the TDZ by about 1/2 mile. So something dramatic and quick happened. No mayday was issued to ATC. BA ops guy said the skipper told him he lost all power, but by standers are saying the engines were spinning, so its a weird one. The AAIB report should be interesting.
Lucky escape for all concerned. 10 secs earlier and he comes down on Hatton Cross tube station.

They certainly did well to get it on the airfield, and even ended up on the tarmac (just). Nobody has said whether they'd declared an emergency (* answered by FlightMan above), it may be that whatever went wrong was literally in the final phase of the approach, although there is an account of it approaching from off the centre line and banking sharply to line up.

It is easy to speculate about fuel and other types of problem, I guess we'll see a lot of that for a while.

Carry on please Martin - pays my wages.
I'm an engineer for BA and am very pleased that no-one was seriously injured in this accident. Looking at the damage caused by the left main landing gear the people sat in that section of the aircraft were very lucky.
Crew have done a fantastic job both in getting it on the ground and with the evacuation.

APU will supply Pneumatics and electrics. APU door is open but no way to tell if it had time to start. Wouldn't rely on the Tug drivers' statement on BBC News 24 though - doubt very much the Captain would've stopped for a chat and a cuppa on his way back to debrief!!

****e :( ......and that's not an option in a commercial airliner; this could have been soooo much worse.

NS04

Taking the positives from this. Rather than scaring me, it encourages me how much safer air travel has become.
Im sure by the sounds of things there were no hour long drama's that can be turned into a film of how the crew saved everyone. But at the same time.....

Whatever happened, somehow the plane made a severely hard landing, and NO major casualties....to me that says, unlucky but a great demonstration of plane safety..... in a wierd way.

For those in the know..... whats the approx final approach speed for a 777 ? Just wondering roughly what speed it hit the floor at.