Posted on 05/31/2009 7:58:41 PM PDT by Steelfish
Jumbo jet packed with British tourists seconds from disaster after it fails to rise on take-off
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 01st June 2009
Hundreds of passengers narrowly avoided disaster when their plane nearly crashed after taking off.
The British Airways plane shook violently and did not rise more than 30ft above the ground as it set off from Johannesburg to London.
The pilot has been praised for his quick actions in keeping the Boeing 747 in the air, saving the lives of the 256 passengers on board.
Miraculous escape: The British Airways Boeing 747, similar to this one, is thought to have gone into landing mode so that the flaps that make it rise did not work
Travelling at 200mph, he dumped enough fuel for the aircraft to eventually gain height, before returning it to the airport.
It is believed that a technical fault caused the plane to go into landing mode so that the flaps that normally make it rise did not work.
An investigation is under way as to how the jet came so close to crashing.
A BA spokesman said: 'As a precaution BA56 Johannesburg to Heathrow flight on Monday May 11 returned to the airport shortly after take-off due to a suspected technical problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Glad everyone’s okay, but I’m glad you caught that flap thing, too.
Flaps is flaps. Need ‘em for landing, helpful for takeoff.
Not enough thrust, perhaps? I hate reading about aviation written my general news reporters. Gee, I wonder if they get this political thing right, too...
Exactly. It doesn’t sound like deploying the flaps while in the takeoff roll would be such a good idea.
Good comparison.....we shall see
I landed at Bulverde. My daughter was stationed at Fort Sam. Make it back in only one day. Those things cruise at 90 mph and I carry 24 gal of fuel. Was fun trip.
“technical fault caused the plane to go into landing mode”
If flaps were not extended at the start of the takeoff roll EICAS would have generated a CAS warning and a NO TAKEOFF aural would be screaching in the cockpit - hard to miss.
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