01.06.09
Hundreds of passengers narrowly avoided disaster when their Heathrow bound plane nearly crashed after take off in South Africa last month, the Daily Mail reports. The British Airways plane shook violently and would not climb to more than 30ft above the ground as it set off from Johannesburg. The pilot has been praised for his quick actions, keeping the Boeing 747 in the air and saving the lives of the 256 passengers on board.
It is reported that a technical fault caused the plane to go into landing mode - so that the flaps that normally make it rise did not work. Travelling at 200mph, the pilot dumped enough fuel for the plane to gain height, before returning it to the airport. An investigation is under way as to how the jet came so close to disaster.
A BA spokesman told the newspaper: 'As a precaution BA56 travelling from Johannesburg to Heathrow on May 11 returned to the airport shortly after take-off due to a technical problem. The Boeing 747 aircraft landed safely and the 256 passengers on board disembarked as normal.' Referring to the pilot's quick actions, he said: 'Our crews are trained extensively to deal with all eventualities.'
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