The 2008 British Airways Boeing 777 crash-landing at London Heathrow Airport was probably the result of a fault that didn’t fall within then-current aircraft safety legislation. That’s the verdict of an official report released on February 9th, 2010, that covers the January 2008 incident in which the Boeing airliner came down short of the runway, without causing serious injury to any of its 152 passengers and aircrew.

The likely cause – the AAIB (Air Accidents Investigation Branch) report said – was ice that had accumulated in the 777’s fuel supply: ice frozen from water that would be present in the fuel anyway.

‘Certification requirements, with which the aircraft and engine fuel system had to comply, did not take account of this phenomenon as the risk was unrecognised at that time’, the report stressed, explaining that research concerning ice build-up in fuel supplies dated back over 50 years, but the effects of it were only much more recently discovered.

Heathrow Crash Landing

The BA Boeing 777 Heathrow crash landing occurred on January 17th, 2008. Inbound from Beijing, the airliner touched down within the Heathrow perimeter, but some 300 metres ahead of the runway. Ultimately it slid on its belly for some distance before coming to a rest. Of those on board, one passenger suffered a broken leg, and close to several dozen more experienced minor injuries.

According to the AAIB report, the 777’s flight crew – headed by Captain Peter Burkill – only found out that there was an engine issue with the aircraft 43 seconds before it would have reached the runway. Experiencing loss of speed, the pilots attempted to apply more thrust to the engines, but none was available.

Boeing 777 Crash

A mayday call was consequently issued – but since this only occurred seconds before the Boeing 777 crash took place, the flight crew had neither the opportunity to advise the cabin crew, nor to advise passengers of the same.

“We welcome this final report”, said a BA representative. “The crew of BA38 did a fantastic job in extremely difficult circumstances.”

The Boeing 777 had been approaching Runway 27L, one of two runways at the airport. This runway was closed soon after the crash, and arriving aircraft diverted to 27R, instead.

In all, the report laid out 18 safety recommendations. These included guidance on the issue of so-termed aircraft “crashworthiness.” According to BA, none of these recommendations were specific to them, but it emphasised that it had been collaborating with manufacturers and authorities alike to guarantee optimum future safety levels.

See also:

Heathrow Boeing 777 Crash Interim Report Released