Boeing 747 accident in London

The Boeing 747 accident in London was an aviation accident that occurred on 29 December 2014. A Boeing 747-443 airliner of Virgin Atlantic was operating scheduled intercontinental flight VS43 on the London—Las Vegas route, but soon after takeoff the crew discovered problems with the landing gear. During the emergency landing it became clear that the right main landing gear leg was jammed in a half-extended position. 4 hours and 2 minutes after takeoff the crew managed to make a successful emergency landing at the departure airport, during which none of the 465 people on board the aircraft (447 passengers and 18 crew members) were killed or injured.

Chronology of events

The departure of flight VS43 from London was scheduled for 11:20 BST, but taxiing to the runway began only at 11:29. At 11:43 flight VS43 took off from Gatwick Airport from runway No. 26L. During the climb, after the crew retracted the landing gear, the "HYD QTY LOW 4" alert sounded in the cockpit, which meant a rapid loss of hydraulic fluid in system No. 4. While the airliner was climbing to flight level FL320 (9750 metres), the co-pilot read the checklist and it was soon determined that the problem had been resolved and the airliner could continue the flight to Las Vegas, but after the relief co-pilot contacted Virgin Atlantic, the crew was advised to make an emergency landing at Gatwick.

The pilots informed air traffic controllers of their intentions, but because of the aircraft's high takeoff weight, flight 043 circled in a holding area for about 40 minutes to dump fuel, while the crew checked which runway they would need to stop the airliner safely on landing. After the fuel dump was completed, the flight attendants informed the passengers of the problem; at 13:25 the pilots began configuring the aircraft for the emergency landing.

The aircraft began its approach to runway No. 26L, the flaps were extended to 10°, the pilots began extending the landing gear and found that the right main landing gear leg was jammed in a half-extended position. The crew made a circuit over Gatwick Airport at a height of 900 metres to visualise the problem, and air traffic controllers confirmed the half-extended state of the right landing gear leg.

The crew tried by all means to extend the jammed landing gear leg — first there was an attempt to retract and re-extend the landing gear, and then the crew performed manoeuvres in which the landing gear leg was subjected to high g-loads. After the pilots realised that it would not be possible to fully extend the landing gear leg, they began preparing for an emergency landing with the landing gear in a non-landing position. The commander intended to land in daylight; sunset was due at 16:01. At 15:40 a straight-in approach was requested.

At 15:45 BST flight VS43 touched down on runway No. 26L and came to a stop on it with a right bank of 4°. Having assessed the situation, the commander decided that an emergency evacuation was not required. During the emergency landing none of the 18 crew members and 447 passengers on board the airliner were injured.