NZFF

I dont think it would have been a landing gear failure because the plane landed short of the runway then slid foward onto the runway still well before the touchdown zone,
Plus the landing gear was torn off from the impact...
Aparently as the pilots brought the gear down the plane was hit by a wind shear cousing loss of control.

it is too early to tell, it could have been wind sheer, electrical fault, or anything, it seems that a complete electrical failure seems to be the popular one, looking at some of the pictures the pilot did very well to keep it straight, you can see one of the struts pushed through the wing. glad to hear no one was seriously hurt, and everyone got out. it will be interesting to see what the cause is, maybe similar to the QANTAS failure? or completely unrelated. one the report will tell

I flicked on BBC World News last night after seeing this post and watched the live coverage for a good hour or so. The reporter standing at the planespotters carpark and heaps of heavies were departing right past the camera every couple of minutes- even saw an Air New Zealand 747 roll past!

On the more serious note, I'm glad to see no one was injured in what could have been a much bigger diaster. Obviously the media have hyped it up a lot, and there are hundreds of posts on the messages boards at A.net and pprune speculating over the cause of the accident- I'm looking forward to seeing what the official investigation finds out!

I think this pic was taken by one of the passengers from BA38, thought I'd post it here too:

Pretty good really (if you get what I mean) a pilot losing all power then gliding a 777 in to land with barely any injuries etc. Plane looks a bit stuffed for the moment though.

Yes he definitly done a damb good job bringing the plane in as safely as he did.
It will be interesting to see what the caused the loss of power.

here is the link to the preliminary accident report... http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/latest_news/acc...tial_report.cfm

Ran

ranm wrote:

QUOTE (ranm @ Jan 19 2008, 06:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

here is the link to the preliminary accident report... http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/latest_news/acc...tial_report.cfm

Ran

Thanks!

And the interesting paragraph is:

UK AAIB - Flight BA038 Initial Incident Report wrote:Initial indications from the interviews and Flight Recorder analyses show the flight and approach to have progressed normally until the aircraft was established on late finals for Runway 27L. At approximately 600 ft and 2 miles from touch down, the Autothrottle demanded an increase in thrust from the two engines but the engines did not respond. Following further demands for increased thrust from the Autothrottle, and subsequently the flight crew moving the throttle levers, the engines similarly failed to respond. The aircraft speed reduced and the aircraft descended onto the grass short of the paved runway surface.

Sounds like something interesting to follow.

Alex

Some more info here from an apparent insider.
What intrigues me is there was no fire.
Wing tanks would have to be essentially dry for that (not) to happen, I'd have thought.

Good find Charl. Very interesting.

Yea, thanks Charl, thats some interesting reading and pictures there.

Alex

Hmm nice find Charl!

Hey Everyone,

Read at Airliners.Net that ice in the fuel system was the problem (or a part of it).

A.Net Topic
WSJ Article (Source of A.Net topic)

Thanks
Anthony

I love how when something like this happens one of the first things that comes out is "terrorism is not suspected"... Oh really?

FlyingKiwi wrote:

QUOTE (FlyingKiwi @ Feb 16 2008, 11:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I love how when something like this happens one of the first things that comes out is "terrorism is not suspected"... Oh really?

..and everybody feels relieved it's "just" an accident...
This one is full of very small what-if's.
How come ice is an issue on approach, and not at altitude etc etc
No fire on impact (!)
This could've been a massive aviation disaster.
That central tank was running on fumes - as in water vapour maybe?
Poisoned petfood...watery jetfuel, China has a massive cleanup/PR act ahead...