Chicago-Bound Jet Touches Down in London on Three-Fifths of its Landing Gear

A Chicago-bound British Airways jet over the Atlantic Ocean was forced to turn back to London’s Heathrow Airport two hours into its journey Saturday after the pilot noticed something amiss with the landing gear.

The pilot of British Airways flight 295 made a safe landing at Heathrow on three sets of wheels instead of five sets, according to a Daily Mail report. The Boeing 747-400 was met by a squad of firefighters and passengers cheered as the plane came to a safe stop on the ground.

The news media in London was hailing the British Airways pilot as a hero, and passengers heaped much praise on the pilot via social media.

Reports the Aviation Herald website:

On approach to Heathrow the crew dumped fuel, lowered the gear very early, subsequently reported an unsafe gear indication for both main gear, only nose and body gear had extended. The aircraft positioned for a 15nm final to Heathrow’s runway 27R and landed safely on nose and body gear only and stopped on the runway about 20 minutes after reporting the unsafe gear.

The plane originally departed London at 12:15 p.m. for the journey to Chicago. Two hours in, the pilot turned back and told the 293 passengers on board that the plane needed to make an emergency landing. The plane landed at about 5:15 p.m. London time.

After landing, passengers deplaned from the rear of the craft because all of the wheels in the landing gear were not in contact with the ground, according to passengers, who said they were told to move from the front of the aircraft to prevent the plane from tipping.

The passengers were put on another plane which left London in the evening, according to a statement from the airline. The flight is expected to land at Chicago O’Hare Airport at 11:50 p.m. Central time.

The plane was stuck on the runway at Heathrow for several hours, causing delays for other flights.