BA plane 'lost power' before crash landing at Heathrow

It's so rare to come across anything that could be construed as a good news story that I spent all of yesterday waiting for the report that would cast this one in a bad light... But so far it hasn't come.

Hundreds of passengers had a narrow escape when a British Airways aircraft crash-landed at Heathrow yesterday, missing the runway by 150 metres and only just clearing the airport's perimeter fence.

The pilot had reportedly lost all power on his approach. Witnesses described the aircraft banking sharply to the left as it made its approach, missing the tops of houses by less than 100m.

Several witnesses described how the aircraft "belly-flopped" and slid along the grass as its undercarriage came off. In gusty but far from extreme weather conditions, the aircraft's wheels sank deep into the soft, wet grass and were wrenched off the main body.

One unidentified airport worker told BBC News that the pilot said he lost all power and had been forced to glide the plane into land.

The pilot had to react so quickly that there wasn't even enough time to warn passengers to brace themselves. One passenger on last night's news said that it was a bumpy landing but that he wasn't aware that he was in a crash landing until after he got out the plane and noticed that there was no undercarriage.

Another person interviewed said that the pilot should be given "a medal as big as a frying pan". It's an image that made me smile. And it's not often that the news makes me do that.

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