Summary
We are wrapping up the liveblog now so here is a summary of this afternoon’s developments:
- A Virgin Atlantic flight to Las Vegas was forced to make an emergency landing at Gatwick airport after developing a serious problem with its landing gears. Flight VS43 left the Sussex airport at 11.44am but was forced to turn around. The aircraft circled over the south coast of England for hours before landing safely shortly before 4pm.
- Terrified passengers were told to assume the brace position for the landing. They applauded the pilot and cabin crew upon touching down at Gatwick.
- Some passengers suffered minor injuries and the runway was closed until at least 6pm, a Gatwick airport spokesman said. Departing flights from Gatwick were delayed and inbound flights were directed to other airports.
Another VS43 passenger, Mike Kaufman, has tweeted these photographs of (very relieved) flyers disembarking the plane:
We're off! pic.twitter.com/WgTIAKq1sQ
— Mike Kaufman (@mikekaufmanuk) December 29, 2014
Greeting party pic.twitter.com/PfQUXOpJbB
— Mike Kaufman (@mikekaufmanuk) December 29, 2014
Dan Crane, who was also on the plane, tells me he is sat on the left-hand side of the aircraft and has been told to stay on-board at the minute in order to balance the plane due to the problem with its landing gear.
Updated
Plane was 'scary and quiet' during emergency landing, says passenger
I’ve just spoken to VS43 passenger Dan Crane, 24, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, who said of the atmosphere on-board the plane after landing:
Now it’s calm, they are slowly taking people off in areas of the plane to keep it balanced.
Asked what it was like when the plane was waiting to land, he said:
It was scary and quiet. Everyone was quiet, some crying and speaking to the cabin crew for reassurance.
Earlier, Dan tweeted this picture from his seat:
— Dan Crane (@DanCrane1) December 29, 2014
Updated
Sky News has a live video stream from Gatwick Airport, showing the aircraft surrounded by emergency service vehicles. Passengers don’t appear to have disembarked yet.
Virgin Atlantic confirms flight VS43 landed safely:
“Virgin Atlantic can confirm that the plane has landed safely at Gatwick. Our priority now is to look after our passengers.”
The Guardian’s transport correspondent, Gwyn Topham, has just filed this on the Virgin Atlantic plane landing:
A Virgin Atlantic flight has landed safely at Gatwick after being forced to return when pilots identified a problem with the landing gear en route to Las Vegas.
The airport had emergency services on standby as a precaution after pilots on flight VS43 prepared to implement a “non-standard landing procedure”.
The plane left the Sussex airport at 11.44 for Las Vegas in the US, but turned around before it had left British airspace. It circled around the south coast and dumped fuel to minimise the risk of fire in a forced landing.
Gatwick did not anticipate that the landing would cause disruption. The aircraft did not immediately taxi away from the runway but was attended by fire engines and ground staff. There was no immediate evacuation.
Around 400 passengers were thought to be on board.
The return of a plane to an airport is not unusual, including problems with landing gear.
Virgin Atlantic flight VS042 has landed safely at Gatwick after experiencing problems with its landing gear, an airport spokeswoman has confirmed.
The spokeswoman told the Guardian that the aircraft will now be checked over as part of standard procedure and that all passengers will be disembarked.
Plane with landing gear problem returns to Gatwick http://t.co/5OIxWYccqs pic.twitter.com/HFQm7s9aCA
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) December 29, 2014
Flight VS43 lands safely at Gatwick airport
We will have confirmation shortly from Gatwick airport and Virgin Atlantic officials, but the website flight tracking site Flightradar24 reports that the aircraft has landed safely:
#VS43 just landed safely at Gatwick Airport! pic.twitter.com/MnTaKOr9IF
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) December 29, 2014
Eyewitnesses near Gatwick report that flight VS43 is to land imminently.
Aeronautical engineering student Sam Pilcher has tweeted:
VIR43E next to land with 16 miles to run, 5 minutes out. Fire crews in place.
— Samuel Pilcher (@SamPilcher) December 29, 2014
Aeronautical engineering student Sam Pilcher has tweeted the below picture purportedly of the VS43:
From the back of my camera the state of VIR43Es undercarriage on its fly. pic.twitter.com/HDWhwReMG1
— Samuel Pilcher (@SamPilcher) December 29, 2014
Former BA pilot Alastair Rosenschein says that this image shows more clearly that there is a problem with the aircraft’s starboard-side landing gear.
However, he adds that passengers on-board should not be in any danger:
“It is entirely possible that the landing from the passengers point of view will feel perfectly normal and ordinary ... I would expect the touchdown and landing to be a fairly normal affair.”
The plane has reportedly been circling off the south coast of England for approximately two hours, according to eyewitnesses.
The photograph above shows flight VS43. Former BA pilot Alastair Rosenschein has told Sky News that the image suggests that the landing gear underneath the aircraft’s right-hand wing does not appear to be functioning.
A Virgin Atlantic passenger plane “is preparing to implement a non-standard landing procedure at Gatwick airport “because of “a technical issue with one of the landing gears”, the airline said.
Flight VS43, which was en route to Las Vegas, turned back to the West Sussex airport after taking off this morning.
The aircraft circled repeatedly between Gatwick and the South Coast apparently to burn off fuel.
According to eyewitnesses, one of the five landing gears on the Boeing 747 jumbo jet had failed to deploy.
