British Airways Investigation Hails Hero Pilot

An internal investigation by British Airways into the crash landing of flight BA35 from Bejing on the 17th of January 2008 has hailed the swift actions of the Captain of the flight Peter Burkhill.

British Airways Boeing 777

The Boeing 777 was badly damaged when it landed heavily on the grass proceeding the runway at Heathrow Airport, however all passengers managed to escape with only one sustaining an injury. There were 136 people on board the aircraft.

The internal investigations complete findings will not be made public, however the discovery of Peter Burkhills actions have been, and describe how he changed the angle of the flaps in the final few moments of the flight to avoid a catastrophic disaster. This increased lift and reduced drag whilst Senior First Officer John Coward forced the nose of the aircraft towards the ground. This allowed them to maintain enought speed to get it inside the perimeter fence of the airport - which was only just achieved.

Other matters were forthcoming from the report such as the discovery that the emergency alarms inside the aircraft were not loud enough for all cabin crew to hear when the aircraft crashed onto the runway. This month also saw another report issued that suggested that the engines of the aircraft both has strange low pressure readings on them before landing. The investigation continues into the causes of the incident.

Published by: Jon Vickery