Yesterday Kevin Lang told us how excited he was to be heading off to Iowa for the Democratic caucuses. He wrote that post in the departure lounge in Edinburgh. Thankfully, he is now safely in Chicago and on the way to Iowa, but his journey was, to put it mildly, not without incident.
Somewhere over Iceland yesterday afternoon, the pilot realised that two sets of the landing gear were not working. He had no choice but to turn and head back to Heathrow and make an emergency landing.
The Mirror has footage of the landing – and Kevin is quoted in the story, saying:
[The captain] warned that we would be jettisoning fuel and then said emergency vehicles would be meeting us.
“I felt worried. You could hear the concern and seriousness in the captain’s voice when he spoke to the passengers.
He added: “It was very scary even for a frequent flier like myself.”
Here are his tweets as the situation unfolded:
Currently blocking the north runway at Heathrow on the BA295. Had to turn back after gear box problem.
— Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) January 30, 2016
Big round of applause for @British_Airways pilot who landed us safely at Heathrow on BA295 after gearbox failure.
— Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) January 30, 2016
Captain now telling us to disembark in a certain way to avoid the plane from tipping over!
— Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) January 30, 2016
Passengers at rear of BA295 being disembarked first to avoid plane tipping back onto its tail. This is crazy stuff. pic.twitter.com/mpVnpLg0Qd
— Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) January 30, 2016
Thank heavens everyone was ok, and special thanks to the pilot whose skills were put to the ultimate test.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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One Comment
‘Somewhere over Iceland yesterday afternoon,’
That’s surely at least halfway to North America; why go back to Heathrow?
‘Passengers at rear of BA295 being disembarked first to avoid plane tipping back onto its tail.’
Sounds like sound engineering to me.
Best wishes to Kevin and hope you have a less worrying trip.