British Airways Flight BA38 Crash Lands At Heathrow Airport
By Sky News SkyNews - 18 minutes agoInvestigators are trying to piece together what caused a British Airways passenger jet to crash land at Heathrow Airport.
The plane hit the ground several hundred yards short of the runway, narrowly missing a busy road.
The Boeing 777 had lowered its landing gear as it went to touchdown but witnesses have described how moments later it "dropped" out of the sky.
More than 150 people were forced to dive down inflatable chutes and onto the tarmac as emergency services rushed to the scene.
BA said Flight 38 came down as it was approaching the south runway of the London airport after flying from Beijing.
Paul Venter, who was on board the aircraft, said: "We came in to land, I could hear the undercarriage come out and the next moment the plane just dropped."
Air Transport Intelligence editor Kieran Daly said there was no "obvious explanation" for what happened.
He said: "There does not seem to be any indication that an emergency was declared. But if the crew didn't declare one, what did happen?"
Aviation expert Julian Bray said it appeared the plane "suffered a very late technical incident which caused a catastrophic total loss of power in one or more engines".
Pictures of the crashed plane show the aircraft's mangled undercarriage - as if it had slid across the ground.
The plane's wheels are on the ground away from the fuselage.
Serious damage is visible to the right engine and to both wings, while the plane is surrounded by fire engines and a sea of firefighting foam.
The plane was described by witnesses as coming in at a "funny angle" as the nose of the aircraft lurched upwards before "belly-flopping" on to the grass.
The pilot reportedly looked "pale and very drained" after the crash landing.
One airport worker said the captain, who BA said had been flying with the airline for nearly 20 years, had told him he had lost all power as he came in to land.
BA could not confirm this report.
Scotland Yard said: "There is nothing to suggest at this stage that the incident is in any way terror-related."
Sky correspondent David Bowden, who is at Heathrow, said: "It looks as though... if something did go very wrong with this plane, it must have happened at the very last minute."
Some 18 passengers on the crashed plane have needed hospital treatment for minor injuries.
After a temporary halt to flights, air traffic controllers now say planes are taking off and landing on the airport's northern runway.
There are, however, many delays, with some planes diverted to other London airports.
The Prime Minister's flight to China was among those stuck on the runway after the drama.
On board is Sky's political editor Adam Boulton, who said Mr Brown remained calm and joked: "Well you have got your story already then."
Sky producer Jonathan Levy said security at Heathrow was already higher than normal, both because of the PM and because the Qatari royal family were due to pass through the airport.
Mr Brown's flight has now taken off safely.
