London Evening Standard/London
The emergency landing of a BA plane at Heathrow last week is of “incredible concern”, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said yesterday as investigators rushed out a report into the incident.
The Cabinet minister vowed that the government would “take no hesitation” to order action to prevent a repeat of the drama amid fears that it could have ended in disaster.
Heavy protective coverings — known as cowls — are believed to have been ripped off the BA Airbus A319, which had to turn back to Heathrow just minutes after take-off.
Reports, which could not be confirmed, suggest that maintenance may have been to blame rather than any design fault.
The BA plane, which was flying to the Norwegian capital Olso, was filmed heading back to the west London airport last Friday morning with smoke billowing out of one engine.
“Anybody who saw those pictures last week will be incredibly concerned about the incident,” McLoughlin told the Standard.
Ahead of the publication of the report by the Air Accident Investigation Branch, he added: “Whatever lessons there are to be learned, the government will take no hesitation in implementing those particular recommendations.”
He stressed it was “vitally important” that confidence was maintained in the aviation industry.
The AAIB took the unusual step on Thursday night to deny a report by US investigators that the BA flight 762 plane limped back to Heathrow with one engine shut down and the other on fire.
Aviation experts say if there had been such a situation it would have been very dangerous. But only one of the engines on the plane was affected, the AAIB said.
London Ambulance Service said three people on the plane, carrying 75 passengers, were treated for minor injuries after it landed safely. Passengers and crew were evacuated via emergency chutes.
Heathrow bosses and the pilot’s association Balpa later praised the BA cockpit crew. The drama closed both runways at Heathrow, with 192 flights being cancelled and 22 planes diverted to other airports, and delays for those heading off for the bank holiday weekend.
Besides concerns about safety shortcomings, the AAIB findings could spark a surge of claims from an estimated 25,000 BA passengers whose flights were cancelled as a result of the incident, plus thousands more whose flights were delayed. European passengers’ rights legislation, known as EU261, obliges airlines to pay between €250 and €600 to such passengers unless the carrier can demonstrate the disruption was the result of “extraordinary circumstances”.