http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

B3ta's already spoofed it:
http://www.b3ta.com/board/7965091

He should stick to politics.

No lack of undercarriage, it's punched right through the wing on the picture that CNN's got up right now.

Stick to the crossword, more like. I'm fairly sure the pilots would have noticed a 'lack of undercarriage' on take off... What a chopper.

Low and slow apparently. Nice marks of undercarriage in the grass. Neat video

Looks as though it landed well short and witnesses are saying that it was coming in at a very tight angle.

It could have been a lot worse, thank Christ everyone made it off OK.

which news desk is going to somehow conjure up a terrorism angle first I wonder?

which forum member will say it was the Nazis?

I'm thinking Canadian geese

Big dog on runway not on a lead/leash caused the pilot's refusal to land, and his later assertion that he would sue Heathrow hard.

Unconfirmed report (BBC News 24) that the Captain reported a complete loss of power and avionics on final approach. Not a bad landing in retrospect.

Big dog not on a leash in the cockpit, biting the pilot's hand as he was trying to press the "Land Me" button.

Looking at the pictures, it looks like the plane probably won't even be a hull loss. The fuselage is intact, the empennage isn't damaged at all, the engines might be fixable, but the Fan blades are probably a mess. Wings look fixable. The landing gear is probably toast though. BA might write it off, but I'm sure someone will pick it up and repair it.

The original 747 prototype had a similar incident on approach to Renton Field, where the engines and landing gear were ripped off, but they fixed it up to fly again.

Whatever you say, don't mention the war.

Big difference in certification of a development prototype and production aircraft.

Just wait until the Dreamliner enters service (eventually) the smallest bump will call into question the whole structure due to the unpredictable crack development on composites.

dave

Background:
"Aluminum is a very tolerant material and can take a great deal of punishment before it fails. It can be dented or punctured and still hold together. Composites are not like this. If they are damaged, they require immediate repair, which is difficult and expensive. An airplane made entirely from aluminum can be repaired almost anywhere. This is not the case for composite materials, particularly as they use different and more exotic materials. Because of this, composites will probably always be used more in military aircraft, which are constantly being maintained, than in commercial aircraft, which have to require less maintenance."

To quote my late grandfather; "Oh, it'll come out with a bit of T-Cut..."

Ahh, just realised why the politicos were the first hacks to report - they were queuing up for Brown at Heathrow...
How long before the Mail links this to house price falls in the area?

"Airplane crash at Heathrow"

- "Nobody Dead"





Heard an eyewitness on the radio, typical cabbie bloke, saying:
"...'e deserves a medal as large as a fryin' pan..."

Fantastic

To be certified, you can't just have your airplane repaired anywhere, there are certain approved repair facilities and suppliers. Even with the aluminum, it has to meet fairly stringent conditions to be approved.

The 777 is still a mostly Aluminum aircraft. Composites are used in the empennage (tail section), parts of the interior, and IIRC on the wing surfaces. There are processes to repair composites.