British Airways jet ‘seconds from disaster after stalling above London’ in UK’s ‘most serious near miss in years’
A British Airways plane is understood to be seconds away from disaster after a pilot failed to land 4,000ft above London and stalled.
As the Airbus A320 was landing at Heathrow Airport, the captain of the plane was reportedly forced to intervene and correct the near-miss incident, described as the largest of its kind.
The incident is said to have occurred on flight BA919, which departed from Düsseldorf on July 6, while the 180-passenger heavy aircraft was flying over Canary Wharf in east London.
The chain of events is understood to have been triggered after one of the aircraft’s air data systems, which monitor critical flight information such as airspeed, malfunctioned.
This caused the British Airways (BA) plane to stall over the capital’s financial district, meaning a loss of altitude and control.
Unlike a car, stalling an airplane does not result in the engine shutting down.
Instead, the wings lift to a level where the aircraft’s weight can no longer be supported, leaving the aircraft at risk of going into a nose dive.
The co-pilot is believed to have tried to resolve the problem but the captain had to physically intervene after his colleagues’ attempt failed.
British Airways’ Airbus A320 was claimed to be seconds away from disaster after a pilot failed and stalled while landing at 4,000ft above London (stock photo)
Sources described the believed error as: ‘The most serious “near miss” in the UK in recent years.
Meanwhile, situations where a captain has to physically intervene to help resolve a potential problem are ‘unheard of’ in the industry.
Experts told Sun this could have resulted in ‘hull loss’, where an aircraft was destroyed or seriously damaged.
It is understood the captain is currently on ‘stress leave’.
The episode was reported as ‘Loss of Control In Flight’ and branded as ‘Pilot Induced’.
It was reported that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was investigating the ‘serious incident’. BA told The Sun they were co-operating with the investigation.
BA operates approximately 19 direct flights per week between Düsseldorf Airport and London Heathrow, with a flight duration of 1 hour 30 minutes.
British Airways has been contacted for comment.
