24 May 2013
Last updated at 11:41 ET

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Eyewitness Steve Fryer: “Flames were coming out of it”

A British Airways (BA) plane had to return to Heathrow Airport to make an emergency landing after black smoke was seen coming from one of its engines.

Both runways were closed as passengers and crew used emergency chutes.

BA said the Heathrow to Oslo service turned back after a technical fault at 08:43 BST. Witnesses reported seeing flames coming from the engine.

The southern and northern runways had reopened by 11:00 BST and short-haul flights cancelled by BA have resumed.

‘Loud popping sound’

In total 192 flights were cancelled from Heathrow Airport following the emergency landing, the majority of which were BA flights, and 22 planes were diverted to other airports.

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Analysis
Tom Edwards Transport correspondent, London

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What today’s incident highlights is how one event can have a massive impact on passengers.

Both runways were shut for 30 minutes but as Heathrow operates at 98% capacity of a 480,000-a-year flight cap that has a massive knock-on effect.

When incidents like this have happened before, pro-expansion campaigners have claimed it proves why Heathrow should have a third runway.

Campaigners against expansion use these incidents to say Heathrow is in the wrong place and shouldn’t operate at 98%.

But that won’t stop the frustration in the terminal with delays just before the half-term getaway.

• Read more from Tom

There are still delays of more than 45 minutes for both departures and arrivals, Heathrow Airport said.

BA said the incident had had “significant impact” on its schedule and delays were expected to last for the rest of the day.

London Ambulance Service said three people on the plane, an Airbus A319 carrying 75 passengers, were treated for minor injuries.

David Gallagher, a passenger on the plane, said: “About eight or nine minutes into the flight there was a loud popping sound, not an explosion but definitely not usual sounds.

“The captain came on very calmly, said he was aware of the situation and that everything was running normally and he was going to run some tests to see what the right course would be.

“Then another five minutes after that there was a loud sound, and this time the right engine was clearly on fire.

“I mean big flames, very visible from the rest of the cabin, and lots of black smoke.”

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Footage filmed from on board the plane shows the emergency landing

He said a few passengers were visibly upset but the cabin and ground crews were “outstanding and completely calm”.

Jez Stamp, from Farnham in Surrey, who was on a plane waiting to take off to Jordan, said: “I could see smoke on the right engine.

“We just saw it come to a halt and fire engines were already there waiting for it and they immediately started hosing the plane down.”

Rob Brownell, 33, who saw the plane from Imperial Wharf Station in central London, told the BBC flames were “clearly visible”.

Explosion fears

He said: “There was this almighty rumbling overhead – I looked up and saw the plane on fire.

“There were flames coming not just from the engine but lapping the wing.

“My initial thought was ‘my God this thing is going to blow up’. The wings are full of fuel so I couldn’t see how there could not be an explosion.”

Normand Boivin, Heathrow chief operating officer, said: “I would like to pay tribute to BA’s pilots and Heathrow’s fire and airside teams for their quick and professional response.”

According to the website planefinder.net, the plane turned over Potter’s Bar and Billericay before returning to Heathrow.

Captain Mark Searle, chairman of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), said: “This was a professional job done by professional people.

“As pilots we spend our whole career training to manage incidents such as this in order to avoid an incident becoming a disaster.”

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Passenger David Gallagher said he had huge respect for the way staff handled the incident

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22652718#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

24 May 2013
Last updated at 11:39 ET

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Passenger: “Pilot announced there had been some kind of threat”

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft after RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled to escort a passenger plane travelling from Pakistan to the UK.

Police boarded Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK709, originally en route to Manchester, after it was diverted to Stansted Airport.

The men being held are aged 30 and 41, Essex Police said.

There has been no official confirmation of what happened on board.

However, PIA said all the passengers were safe.

The plane reportedly left Lahore – the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab – at 09:35 local time. It had been due in at Manchester at 14:00 BST.

BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said there was a suggestion there had been threats on board during the flight, involving some sort of weapon or bomb – although this has not been confirmed.

Emergency signal

However, one passenger told the BBC that the pilot had informed them there had been threats.

The man said: “We were about half-an-hour away from landing in Manchester and we saw that the plane was taking different actions.

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The BBC’s Jonathan Beale: “Two men were arrested on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft”

“We did not know anything about it other than the pilots announced that they have landed at Stansted. And we landed, safely. Then he announced that he had a threat from someone, which was why he had landed the plane.”

Another passenger, Umari Nauman, told Sky News that cabin crew had said two men had repeatedly tried to get into the cockpit.

“The cabin crew informed us that basically they tried to come into the cockpit a few times and because they had been asked not to do that, they got into a bit of an argument with the crew and made a few threats.”

Stansted said the pilot had alerted the authorities to the incident, but the airport did not say what that incident was.

Speaking about the passengers, an airport spokesman said: “They will be taken to a reception centre in the airport where police may wish to interview them about what they have seen. At some point police and the airline will arrange for their onward transportation to Manchester.”

Stansted earlier said on Twitter that it was operating normally.

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft which was due to land at Manchester Airport at 13.30 BST today has been diverted to our sister airport London Stansted, where the authorities are investigating.”

Pakistan International Airlines flight PK709: Diverted route

• 1. Pakistan International Airlines flight PK709 was due to arrive at Manchester Airport at 14:00 BST after leaving Lahore, Pakistan at about 09:35 local time
• 2. After an alert was raised, the flight was diverted to London Stansted Airport and Typhoon jets from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, were scrambled to escort the plane
• 3. After the plane landed at London Stansted, two men were arrested by police on suspicion of endangerment of an aircraft

Mashhood Tajwar, a spokesman for PIA, said the incident followed a call to air traffic control.

He said that about 20 to 30 minutes before landing, information received by air traffic control in Manchester had indicated there might have been “some security threat”.

“But so far it has not been ascertained what was the real motive behind that call,” said Mr Tajwar.

He added: “The plane was diverted to Stansted and it has landed safely over there and all passengers are safe, and they have disembarked.”

PIA said there had been 308 passengers on board, as well as 14 crew including pilots, with a mixture of Pakistani and British passport holders.

‘Serious incident’

The MoD said responsibility for the incident had passed to Essex Police and the Home Office, and that “our involvement is over”.

An MoD spokesman said Typhoon jets could be scrambled after the pilot or crew of a passenger aircraft sends out an emergency signal.

“The purpose of going up is to investigate what the situation is,” he said.

“Often when a quick reaction alert aircraft is launched the details are not known, but it is known that a signal has been sent.”

Philip Baum, of Aviation Security International, told the BBC: “This is certainly a significant incident, however the fact that fighter jets were scrambled to intercept is not unusual.

“Fighter jets are scrambled when there is a bomb threat, when there is a hijack, when the wrong transponder code is used or if an aircraft cannot communicate with the ground. Often the result is when there is an unruly passenger on board.

“What is interesting in this case is that it would appear that the aircraft was only 10 minutes from landing – these are initial reports coming in – when they decided to divert to Stansted. So to actually change a destination 10 minutes from landing would certainly imply that there was some serious incident taking place.”

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source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22658979#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

23 May 2013
Last updated at 04:12 ET

The plane took off from Phoenix, arriving in Dallas after a flight of 18 hours and 21 minutes

The Solar Impulse plane has set a new distance record for solar-powered flight on the second leg of its trans-American journey on Wednesday evening.

The craft landed in Dallas, Texas, after an 18-hour flight from Phoenix, Arizona – a journey of 1,541km (958mi).

In the coming weeks, it will also stop over in St Louis, Missouri, and Washington DC before heading to New York in early July.

The project aims to showcase the capabilities of renewable energy.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA has the same wingspan as an Airbus A340 but at a weight of just 1.6 tonnes – by comparison, a fully laden A340 weighs about 370 tonnes.

The plane’s wing and stabiliser are covered with nearly 12,000 solar cells, which drive its four propellers and charge the plane’s 400kg of lithium-ion batteries for night-time flying.

The “Across America” bid is billed as the first cross-continental, solar-powered flight.

It is the last showpiece with the prototype aircraft before the Solar Impulse co-founders and pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, attempt a trans-oceanic flight and an eventual around-the-world flight in 2015.

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The Solar Impulse HB-SIA

• Wingspan – 63m (208ft)
• Weight – 1,600kg (3,500lb)
• Covered with 11,628 solar cells
• Carries 400kg (900lb) of lithium-ion batteries
• Maximum cruising altitude of 8,500m (28,000ft)

The craft already holds records for the first international flight of a solar-powered plane in 2011, and first inter-continental flight in 2012.

The two Swiss pilots will alternate on different legs of the journey; Wednesday’s flight was piloted by Andre Borschberg.

Mr Borschberg also holds a record set in 2010 – the longest-lasting flight of a solar-powered craft, at more than 26 hours.

“This leg was particularly challenging because of fairly strong winds at the landing. It also was the longest flight – in terms of distance – ever flown by a solar airplane,” Mr Borschberg said.

“You have to understand that the pilot needs to stay awake for more than 20 hours without any autopilot.”

The plane completed the first leg of its trans-American bid – between San Francisco and Phoenix – in early May, in a flight lasting 18 hours.

The Across America project coincides with the pair’s Clean Generation Initiative, an effort to encourage policy-makers and businesses to develop and adopt sustainable energy technologies.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22624702#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Holidaymakers and travellers flying to the US are facing the longest waits ever while they are put through the immigration process.

Research carried out by the Independent newspaper argues this is mainly due to budget cuts in staffing levels. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), who are responsible for staffing, have had to take enormous budget cuts, meaning there are fewer people on the desks. Between March and April, waiting time increased by 30 minutes, with the expected average wait time leaping to three hours.

A spokesman at CBP said: “The effects of sequestration will continue to have serious impacts on US Customs and Border Protection, including increased wait times for customs inspections at airports”.

Those flying into Dallas are currently waiting over two hours, and at Minneapolis and Detroit queuing time is just shy of one hour.

Things may get worse and could potentially cause problems for connecting flights. Switching your arrival airport may solve the issue. For example Orlando, which is in the top five worst waits, could be swapped for Orlando Sandford, where passing through customs is a quicker process.

Alternatively, passengers could catch flights at off-peak times such as early in the morning or much later, as this may mean less queuing once you get off the plane.

What is the longest you ever had to wait to pass through immigration? Is three hours too long? Leave a comment.

 

Photo credit: LAX queues

Related: Heathrow Airport experiencing immigration queues of two-and-a-half hours

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source: http://www.thetravelmagazine.net/i-4863--longest-queues-ever-at-us-airports-up-to-three-hours-wait.html

Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport was temporarily closed after a Boeing 737 plane carrying about 140 people caught fire upon landing,

Emergency crews rushed to the scene and quickly managed to bring the flames under control.

Video footage showed passengers fleeing the plane on shutes, while others were forced to jump off the wings.

The aircraft had travelled from the southern Russian city of Stavropol. There were no reports of an injuries.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22579630#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

14 May 2013
Last updated at 11:46 ET

This is the second cockpit-related incident for Air India this month

An Air India flight was forced to land after the pilot was locked out of the cockpit during a toilet break, the airline says.

He was unable to gain access to the cockpit because of a jammed door.

Flight AI 403, which was travelling from Delhi to Bangalore, was diverted to Bhopal Airport on Monday.

The airline has been plagued by financial difficulties in recent years, with its 787 Dreamliner jets grounded in January by safety concerns.

“The commander of the flight had left the cockpit for a short while to visit the toilet and on returning to the cockpit found the door locked. The door had got jammed and all efforts to open the door even from inside by the co-pilot failed,” an Air India statement said.

“The co-pilot, after taking permission from ground control, diverted the flight to Bhopal and landed…at 1755 hrs.”

The door was fixed by ground maintenance engineers and the plane continued its journey less than three hours later, Air India adds.

Stewardesses

The state-run airline is currently investigating a separate incident in which the auto-pilot system of Airbus 321 flying from Bangkok to Delhi on 12 April was accidently switched off.

According to the Mumbai Mirror, two pilots had taken a 40-minute break from the cockpit and left two stewardesses in their seats to operate the plane in their absence.

One of the stewardesses accidentally turned off the auto-pilot, forcing the pilots to rush back to their seats, the report said.

Air India has denied this account but said cabin crew did “overstay” in the cockpit and that the autopilot was briefly disconnected “due to distraction”.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Tuesday that all six of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger jets would resume flying by the end of May, starting with a domestic flight on Wednesday.

The planes have been grounded worldwide since the beginning of the year over a string of incidents, including fuel leaks, a cracked cockpit window, brake problems and an electrical fire.

However, it is overheating in batteries providing auxiliary power that has caused the most concern.

Mr Singh also said he expected the airline to make a net loss of about 40bn rupees ($730m) for the current fiscal year ending March 2014, compared with about 52bn rupees in the previous year.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22528431#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

13 May 2013
Last updated at 08:14 ET

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is due to return to Earth on Tuesday from a five-month stint on board the International Space Station.

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Chris Hadfield tells the BBC about his photos of Earth – during an interview from space

Since docking with the ISS in a Soyuz craft in December, the 53-year-old station commander has kept hundreds of thousands of followers back on Earth informed and entertained from orbit.

He has tweeted from the space station at least 1,500 times, capturing remarkable images of many corners of the world.

His first photograph came in his first tweet from the ISS: “Space Station! Floating free, buoyed up even more by my smile ”

His first days were marked by a series of photos detailing life inside the space station.

But he soon branched out into striking orbital landscapes of the planet below.

We have collected just a few of Cmdr Hadfield’s tweeted shots and captions here – more are available by browsing his Twitter feed @Cmdr_Hadfield.

The photographs of @Cmdr_Hadfield
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26 March: “A squiggly little river feeds the mighty Amazon”

21 April: “The Australian Outback is effortlessly crazily beautiful.”

20 March: “Some of the things we build for ourselves are puzzlingly visible from space. Such as the islands of Dubai.”

10 April: “Italy, heel and toe.”

27 April: “Beijing just after sunset. I’m still trying to spot the Great Wall, but it’s hard as it’s narrow and dun-colored.”

15 April: “A snail island in the waters around Indonesia, with transparent insides.”

8 April: “To commemorate the passing of the Iron Lady [Margaret Thatcher], in the centre of these London lights is #10 Downing Street”

12 May: “Canada rocks” [Rocky Mountains]

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A former fighter pilot, Chris Hadfield became a trainee astronaut in 1992 after winning selection from a field of 5,330 applicants, according to Nasa.

He flew on board the space shuttle, docking with the Russian space station Mir and as part of an assembly flight to the ISS in 2001.

He eventually won his own slot on board the ISS in 2010, training for his current mission until lift-off in December 2012.

After gathering hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers during his months on board, he made one final hit as the time came for his departure from the ISS.

He posted a striking video to YouTube of him performing a version of David Bowie’s renowned 1969 hit song Space Oddity.

The video quickly went viral, and even prompted a response from Bowie’s own official account: “Hallo Spaceboy…”

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Canadian commander Chris Hadfield version of Space Oddity, recorded on the ISS (footage courtesy of Chris Hadfield, NASA and CSA)

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22508492#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

9 May 2013
Last updated at 19:00 ET

Heathrow currently handles more than 69 million passengers a year

The government should reject the “Boris Island” Thames Estuary airport plan and expand Heathrow instead, a report by MPs has said.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has argued for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary.

Yet the House of Commons Transport Committee warned it would be hugely expensive.

The mayor insists London needs a new airport and the only possible place is east of London.

But the report also warned the new airport could mean the closure of Heathrow and could harm estuary wildlife.

The MPs argue a third runway at Heathrow is necessary instead and even suggest a fourth runway might have merit.

A third runway is opposed by both residents and councils in west London.

The committee said adding new runways to expand other existing airports was not a long-term solution.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The committee is putting four fingers up to hundreds of thousands of Londoners”

End Quote
Boris Johnson
Mayor of London

Committee chairwoman Louise Ellman MP said: “Research we commissioned made plain that building an entirely new hub airport east of London could not be done without huge public investment in new ground transport infrastructure.

“Evidence to our inquiry also showed a substantial potential impact on wildlife habitat in the Thames Estuary.

“The viability of an estuary hub airport would also require the closure of Heathrow – a course of action that would have unacceptable consequences.”

Mr Johnson said: “The committee is bang on the button in saying we need a proper hub airport.

“But, by suggesting that Heathrow should double its runways from two to four, the committee is putting four fingers up to hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

“London and the wider UK do need a hub airport that can operate 24 hours a day without constraint and the only place that is possible is to the east of London.”

What do you think about the Thames Estuary airport proposal? Send us your comments using the form below.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22469502#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

Hunters in the Urals Mountains of Russia have apparently found the remains of a crashed biplane that went missing last June.

The search for the wreckage of the Antonov 2 aircraft was called off in November as winter closed in.

Daniel Sandford reports from Moscow

Footage courtesy of Dmitry Skryabin/Serovglobus.ru

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22420221#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

5 May 2013
Last updated at 17:25 ET

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Amateur footage shows the wreckage of what is believed to be the missing plane. Courtesy of Dmitry Skryabin/Serovglobus.ru

Hunters in the Ural Mountains of Russia have discovered the wreckage of a light aircraft that went missing with 13 people nearly a year ago.

The two hunters spotted the debris in marshland near an airfield in the town of Serov, from where the plane had taken off without permission last June.

Eleven bodies have also been recovered near the crash site.

The official search for the plane lasted four months and covered an area of 1m sq km (400,000 sq miles).

But rescuers were forced to call off the search last November as winter closed in.

The grouse hunters found the charred An-2 biplane about 8km (5 miles) from the airfield on Saturday evening.

It was suspected that the pilot had taken the biplane for an unauthorised flight with a group of friends, who he had been drinking with – including the chief of the local traffic police.

Investigators suspected they were heading for a fishing expedition or sauna visit when the aircraft came down shortly after take-off.

There is no word on the cause of the crash.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22423413#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa