BA 777 lands short of runway at Heathrow

**RDU-JFK** · 2008-01-17, 10:21 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080117/ap_ ... tain_plane

**Iberia A340-600** · 2008-01-17, 10:27 AM

First the A340-600 incident in Quito and now a 777-200 accident in London. Not exactly a good couple of months for 21st century aircraft!

From the pictures I just saw on CNN the damage looked pretty bad, I'm curious to hear what actually happened.

**MarkLawrence** · 2008-01-17, 10:54 AM

I just got an email from the UK - he landed short of the runway - Heathrow is in absolute chaos at the moment - as can be imagined.

The liunk to the BBC article...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 194086.stm

**MarkLawrence** · 2008-01-17, 11:05 AM

There is a link on the above page to an In Pictures page - 1 X Written Off 777-200ER!

**wunaladreamin** · 2008-01-17, 11:19 AM

"On its approach it took the runway too low, just missing the roof of my cab."

Someone check his drawers. Seriously, it's a miracle nobody got seriously hurt. This could have been way worse.

**PhilDernerJr** · 2008-01-17, 11:44 AM

I'm amazed that only 6 people were hurt with no injuries. Thank God.

I am very interested to hear what the cause of this was. I don't understand how you just fall short like that. I don't think there was bad weather in the area. Windshear maybe?

Hats off to the cabin crew for getting everyone off. We've been seeing some stellars performances these last few years during evacuations.

**ChrisW** · 2008-01-17, 11:54 AM

According to news reports, the Captain told reporters that he lost all power and avionics on short final. Tonight at work I'll see what I can come up with in the simulator. I'll have a chat with our 777 instructors to see what their take is.

**PhilDernerJr** · 2008-01-17, 11:55 AM

With no fire like that, fuel (or lack thereof) could be the culprit.

**adam613** · 2008-01-17, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by MarkLawrence

There is a link on the above page to an In Pictures page - 1 X Written Off 777-200ER!

Is that the first 777 to be written off? I know they still haven't had any fatal accidents (other than the refueler on the ground in Denver)...

**Matt Molnar** · 2008-01-17, 12:03 PM

Of course I take this with a grain of salt, but the TV report I heard this morning said the pilot was making an emergency landing. Other than the crew misjudging the start of the runway, I'm guessing some kind of loss of power would be the cause of this. The plane stopping pretty quickly after touching the ground might also be an indication that the aircraft was not moving very quickly, i.e. it didn't have any thrust.

**ChrisW** · 2008-01-17, 12:21 PM

Fuel starvation on a 777 is very difficult - but certainly a possibility. We'll have to wait and see.

**ChrisW** · 2008-01-17, 12:25 PM

There has been one 777 scrapped (or in the process of being scrapped) prior to this frame - C/N: 27109/19 was flown to ARG in late 2006 for part-out/scrapping. This bird was originally delivered to BA as G-ZZZE in 1996 and later saw service with Khalifa as 7T-VKQ and Varig as PP-VRD. It was an odd-ball among other 777s as it was a non-ER bird with GE-90 engines.

**MarkLawrence** · 2008-01-17, 02:05 PM

The latest according to the BBC..

An airport worker told the BBC the pilot on the Boeing 777 had said he had lost all power, and had been forced to glide the plane into land.

The worker also said the pilot had told him all the electronics had also failed.

**NIKV69** · 2008-01-17, 02:23 PM

I would like to know what the FDR says. Then again with a total loss of power does it have a back up power source? How does a 777 just lose everything?

**ChrisW** · 2008-01-17, 02:38 PM

Just because the news media says there was a total loss of power doesn't mean there was a total loss of power. If he lost both engines at 500 ft. a deployed RAT at VREF speed would be essentially useless - you would be at the mercy of gravity at that point. In any case, we'll just have to wait to see what the investigation comes up with.