British Airways flight BA295 from London Heathrow to Chicago turned around two hours into flight declaring an emergency. It landed at Heathrow around 5:30pm local time.
The captain told passengers there was a “technical fault” with the plane. According to a friend of the Pizza in Motion blog who was on the plane,
I honestly would have never known we landed with 3 of 5 wheels if they hadn’t told us. The captain did a great job not just of landing but keeping everyone calm. We are still onboard slowing exiting so as not to tip the plane.
Another passenger confirmed landing on 3 sets of wheels, and disembarking from the rear to avoid tipping the aircraft:
The plane held at 9000 feet before landing on runway 27R. Fire trucks responded. Heathrow’s northern runway was reopened 45 minutes after the plane made its landing, but the airport continued to experience delays for some time afterward.
It sounds like the crew did a phenomenal job. Everyone remained calm. Everyone got off safely. Passengers are even expected to make it to Chicago tonight!
Thought leadership.
On a flight from Seattle to Denver in December we landed with nonfunctioning flaps on wings. We we warned it would be a bumpy landing. Came in fast with fire trucks waiting on the runway. Landed smoothly but blew out 2 tires. I have tremendous respect for pilots.
Now if this had been an Air India flight we would have got a snarky sarcastic article.
@Prabuddha:
Good point. That’s our western bias.
With BA, the article’s emphasis is on “the crew did a phenomenal job”. What about the technical staff’s job? No word of criticism at all from Gary or commenters…
@Jeffrey I don’t have enough details on the cause.