Good job for all the crew in the best airline in the world. They can be proud of their job.

Xosé Rodríguez, Vigo, Spain

My question is: Can we trust the lives of hundreds of passengers to computers, and will Boeing release to the public the results of the incident, or will we be given a lame interpretation of what really happened?
Bob Kornic

Bob Kornic, Shelbyville, MI. U.S.A.

The pilot says they lost power, but people on the ground clearly heard "the roar of the engines" meaning they were still working---sounds like a stall

emil, berlin, germany

It is too early to jump to conclusions. The black boxes of the plain will tell the whole story in days.

Sierra, Budapest,

Even "he" may be a "she," I'll still buy him/her a huge drink.
No lives lost - a magnificient job. Well done, BA !

Robert Chai, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Why not speculate? Its not like anyone died, there are no bereaved relatives to upset.

For me this is a happy story - heroic aviators saving the day, and the rare failure of a technical marvel. Speculate away at what went wrong.

David, Arusha, Tanzania

So this 777 flies all the way from China with no problems,then a sudden loss of power near to landing? highly unlikely.From eyewitness accounts
the aircraft banked heavily then came in at the wrong attack angle (nose high) causing increased drag then descending too fast,the pilot would then try to regain control by increasing the speed of the engines (which at this time where screaming) to try and counteract the descent but too late and too near thw ground.Sorry but this sounds like pilot error to me !

KEN JOHNSON, Washington, England

What a tremendous job the pilot and his crew did to get this aircraft down. It could have been such a different and horrific sceneraro. Perhaps the government and BAA will now realise the dangers of further airport expansion at Heathrow. Surely London deserves a dedicated, brand new, state of the art site in an area of safety, such as the Thames Estuary?

Jenny Floyd, London, UK

Carol,

To answer your question, there are multiple fuel tanks on just about all modern jetliners, inside the wings and in various positions around the fuselage.

All these tanks are linked by a system of pipes, valves and pumps to give the crew the ability to move fuel from one tank to another to maintain the 'trim' of the aircraft as fuel is consumed during flight.

This introduces a risk that if a series of mistakes are made it is possible - but incredibly unlikely - that there could be fuel on the plane but none getting to the engines because values that should be open are shut.

It is pretty remarkable that there does not seem to have been any fire. As far as I can tell from the news reports the foaming of the crash site was precautionary, not to put out a fire. Yet the hot-end of the engines would surely have still been hot enough to ignite any fuel that was around.

Mark, Derby, UK

I'm sure with all the experts on here coming up with so many reasons why it happened we will get the bottom of it eventually... :-) Perhaps they could turn their attention to world poverty and cancer and solve those too!

Pete S, London,

Captain Peter - I'll smoke you a kipper,as you were safely back for breakfast!

MikeB, Wokingham, UK

Did someone really just cite Wikipedia as a technical source? Oh dear...

Minnie Lieu, Colchester, Essex

It heartens me to think that there are so many aviation experts willing to spare the time from their involvement with the AAIB investigation to post their nonsensical ramblings here...

M Pearce, Manchester,

Are there not any cameras monitoring the runways and recording planes taking off and landing?

Jonathan, Leeds, UK

A sudden loss of power and hight might be the effect of the thrust reversers deploying. The effect would feel like a massive power loss even if the engines were set to low power for the approach. Uncommanded TR deployments have happened before on other engine types

chris, rome, italy

There's an old RAF saying; "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing."

Just about sums it up.

Roger, Sheffield,

I am a total ignoramus regarding air engineering so perhaps someone can put me right. Surely the 777 as it has 2 engines has at least 2 fuel tanks?? It would be incredibly unlikely that both tanks ran out at the same time wouldnt it? Also, if a jet passed within 20 feet of my head I might think it was roaring too !!

carol, Leicester, UK

Not true Capt. Pietrasik, it has happened a number of times. I remember a Canadian airliner having to glide into a dissused airfield due to no fuel. It isn't the first and it won't be the last. Many reasons have been attributed - using different units, kgs instead of pounds, litres instead of US gallons etc and faulty instruments. Not saying that this is the reason for this incident we will have to wait and see, speculation is not really useful.
Mike

Mike, Southend-on-Sea, UK

Beryl of Windsor, why on earth did you buy a house in Windsor then?
Heathrow airport was there long before you moved there!
If you don't like it, just move.

Brendan, Windsor, UK

Steven of Brunei..

the roar of the engines is thought to be a technical malfunction in which the electrics onboard thought the plane was close to landing starting a reverse thrust (or something like that) which you here when you generally land.

Mat, Liverpool,

It was only recently that an aircraft flying to the Far East lost all power and had to come in on battery power, Then, a day or two ago, I saw in a paper that a plane in Europe had 'lost all power'. Is this coincidence? These other events have not been mentioned again.

Is there any connection? Were they the same type of planes?

dave shields, London, UK

A disaster averted by quick thinking

Paul, Bishop Auckland, uk

Oh for goodness sake! Stop blaming anybody and stop speculating until you know for sure what happened.

No pilots would allow their plane to crash if there was anything they could do about it. That's a fact. Pilots are unbelieveably well trained to handle ANYTHING and are trained continuously at this. You cannot be a Captain unless you can show you are in command and you have the professionalism to deal with whatever is thrown at you and you cannot be a co pilot unless you are capable of it.

That's the facts.

I salute them.

Mrs U., UK,

We fought for years to stop the spread at Heathrow and have been totally ignored. Aside from the loss of a whole Village as well as precious moorland, you only have to watch the planes taking off and landing, to see there are too many planes circling over densely populated areas. It's not more terminals and runways needed, it is air space, and that can't happen.
The pilot of the plane which crashed on the Medes gave his life to set the plane down in an unpopulated area. That should have been warning enough. This time the plane made it to the airport, skimming over a busy road and scraping the perimeter fence. If it had come down a few minutes earlier there would have been carnage. How long is our luck going to hold out?

Beryl, WINDSOR, England

The pilot says they lost power, but people on the ground clearly heard "the roar of the engines" meaning they were still working.

Could the aircraft have run out of fuel instead? There was surprisingly no fire indicating a lack of fuel to burn

steven, bsb, brunei

Any captain or first officer in the whole WORLD
will tell you (Pieter B.) that running out of fuel is
totally out of question. Future will confirm at least
this. We have to wait.£
Jerome PIETRASIK,
Captain A-321

Pietrasik, Annecy, FRANCE

What I find truly amazing and thankful for, is that the undercarriage having punctured a wing, no fire occurred from leaking fuel

Terry Hawker, L'Absie, France

It makes no difference what caused the crash (although clearly the investigation may lead to changes in procedure) but the fact is that the pilot did a fantastic job of bringing the plane in with no loss of life. Heathrow Airport is surrounded by thousands of homes and offices and some very busy roads. If you don't make it to the airport, there is nowhere to land which would not involve killing people and the approach flightpaths go over densely populated areas. The outcome of this story could have been so very different and I for one (as a South West London resident and frequent flier) am extremely glad that it happened on a plane with an experienced pilot whose instinctive and fast reaction was to take steps that brought the plane in safely. Jonathan from California has it right: true heroes just "do". Well done.

Caroline, Fulham, London,

What a lot of specualtive nonsense people do come out with.

If it wa sa fuel shortage they weould have spotted it miles away and either landed at a European airport to refuel or asked for priority clearance at Heathrow.

The flight recorders will tell the experts exactly what happened. Hopefully The Times will report it though the results of accident investigation are not usually regarded as news.

It's fascinating that some of you are trying to blame the crew. It is very unlikely that two experienced pilots could do something catastrophic. But then the very idea of another human being doing something special/heroic is anathema to some people.

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

I agree with James from Leeds, pilots are human and make mis takes like anyone else, so in my opinion no matter what happened they landed the plane and no one was killed - thats the most important thing!! well done!

Stephen, Chester, Cheshire

Andy from Brighton, I have to say that despite being a regular flier, I would not swear on oath that a noise I had heard in stressful conditions was one thing when an expert was telling me it was another, especially when the expert had just used his skill to avert a major disaster. I am thankfully unaware of the sounds an aircraft would make in this situation, and what may sound to the untrained ear as definitely the engines roaring may not have been. Let's reserve judgement until the results of the investigation.

Dannii, Barcelona, Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_shear

"As the result of the accidents in the 1970s and 1980s, in 1988 the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration mandated that all commercial aircraft have on-board windshear detection systems by 1993. Between 1964 and 1985, wind shear directly caused or contributed to 26 major civil transport aircraft accidents in the U.S. that led to 620 deaths and 200 injuries. Since 1995, the number of major civil aircraft accidents caused by wind shear has dropped to approximately one every ten years, due to the mandated on-board detection as well as the addition of Doppler radar units on the ground."

That leaves fual as a probable cause....

PieterB, Delft, NL

Four points made by onlookers -

1.. Aircraft had banked sharply to the left.
2.. On short finals the angle of attack was very high e.g. nose up at around 15 degrees.
3.. Engine noise was high and forward velocity seemed slow.
4.. Aircraft below normal glide slope.

I would summise that there has been a short term electrical system failure during which directional control had been lost. A nose up attitude was adopted, directional stability restored and 'go round' power applied to the engines.

Due to the high angle of attack airspeed was lost rapidy and the loss of altitude increased rapidy as the aircraft came very close to stalling. Proximity to the ground gave the pilot no time to try and adopt a nose down attitude and regain control airspeed.

The result was the best that could be achieved in these circumstances. Well done!

Barry Carlson, New Plymouth, New Zealand

well the pilots did exactly what they have been trained for years on end to do, remain calm and steady and get the bird on the ground.
well, they are great in that indeed. saved lives ( the plane can go for a toss for the time being).
but why heroes? hang on, if it was me, a novice pilot, thats ok, but if its been a case of engines having been accidentally been put in reverse thrust before hitting the tarmac, then the polits certainly have some explaining to do.
also, there may be the possibility of a bird hit at low engine thrust, although that should not be a problem at all.
what about fuel? did the bird have enough fuel to keep going or did the pilots forget to check this in the landing checklist? lots of questions, but let things go one by one and the real stuff shall emerge surely.
but yes, the pilots got the bird down and the passengers alive...good work.

shripad, normanton,

My flying instructor used to tell me "any landing you can walk away from was a successful landing... any landing where you can use the plane again is a bonus".

stuart, St Albans, UK

Maybe the sucker ran out of gas, It happened before on a Canadian 767. Pilot was awarded a medal of honor only to be later suspended for letting the bird run out of gas. Twin engine failure on a 777, seems suspicious

tom nelly, new york , ny

I agree with wind shear - unusual, but very possible. Some are saying the gear was not down? Gear is lowered a few miles out, so had the gear not been down at that stage, traffic control would have known and the pilot would have gone around. Ground witnesses also say the aircraft was very loud - full power being applied after a loss of lift caused by windshear.

Clive Sinclair, Glasgow, UK

It does sound like wind shear with the pilot saying he lost all power (=engines at full power apparently having no effect) and one of the passengers stating "...the engines were roaring". Some accounts say that the pilot lost all his cockpit displays but this may be third parties confusing electrical power and engine power (sourced from the pilot saying he'd lost all power.)

andy johnson, bristol, UK

No matter whose fault it was the captain still managed to bring that plane down without a single serious injury or death. I think he deserves to be congratulated even if one of the flight crew did make a mistake. Even pilots are human you know

James, Leeds, UK

It was obviously a fuel problem. Was it accidently shut off? Forgot to come out of X-feed? The FDR will tell the story...

Airbus guy, Tampa, Fl/USA

I'm fairly confused. The witnesses heard loud engine noises when the airplane was nearly on the ground, these noises were heard at a time when ground witnesses noted the plane to be far lower than normal, and yet the pilot says he lost all power. These are contradictory indications.

The passenger stated that the airplane "dropped." Such a feeling would not be caused by a loss of power - the aircraft was in landing configuration and flying under relatively low power, probably near what is known as "v-ref" (the reference approach speed based on weight, atmospheric conditions, etc.) which is not too far from best glide speed. Sudden loss of power would not result in a noticeable feeling of drop.

Rather, massive wind shear could give such a feeling because it's the equivalent of a sudden change in airspeed and hence lift.

I'm a 25 year pilot and while I don't fly for an air carrier, I do know some things about flying in general.

Rob, Anaheim, CA, USA

This is one of those miracles you rarely get to see. I am glad everyone is ok.

Mario Reyes, San Diego, Ca, USA

Thank God everyone is safe!

yvette, los angeles, CA

Dan do you think Terminator did this? All new planes have problems from the start its just life. At least it wasn't fatal like most first screw ups are.

Stephen, Augusta, Georgia.

congratulations to Capt. Burkill! BA should give him a nice bonus and early retirement - he just saved them billions of dollars not to mention having saved the lives of all those people on board! Bravo!

Kat Midon, New York, NY/USA

I wouldn't be so quick to call him a hero until they find out what caused the crash. He may go from hero to zero pretty fast.

Matt, Phoenix, AZ

True heroes never plan on being heroic. They just "do".

Jonathan, Encinitas, CA

Great job by the pilots for bringing her down with no casualties!

Nunzi, Tacoma ,

You walked away. The landing was safe. If you want to thank God then remember this. The plane would not have crashed in the first place.

andand@kent, Tunbridge Wells,

So glad the pilot kept a cool head throughout. Very good guess he made to land it.

Terryeo, San Francisco, California, usa

I appreciate the terrific job the Pilots have done .. its unimaginable.. with virtually no time to think and they just did it.

Sanjay , New York, United States

Home for tea and medals! Salutes to the captain and flight crew. Perhaps an "Al Haynes" award.

Richard, Cambridge,

Considering that this just happened, and witness accounts vary from the aircraft lost power to the engines were screaming, I think that is is a bit premature to start congratulating the flight crew. Certainly there were no fatalities, but it would seem unusual in the least that the aircraft simply quit working. If, in fact, it tuns out that the root cause of the accident is aircrew error, then I should think that the accolades thus far given may in fact be quite inappropriate. I would think it best to reserve congratulations or condemnation until such time as the facts of the matter are fully at hand.

Name Witheld, Sunnyvale, USA/CA

It could so easily have been a catastrophic disaster.

The proposed lunacy of expanding the number of flights over London to 700,000+ p.a. with a new runway must be stopped. If this aircraft had developed the fault a mile or two further out as everyone on that flight, there would have been hundreds dead on the ground as well.

Neil, Reading,

the capain states the aircraft lost all power on finals, yet the passenger states the engines were 'roaring' as if the aircraft was taking off???

opinions aside, job well done to the captain and crew.

andy, brighton,

"It was the first aircraft to be designed entirely on computer"?

I didn't like the idea then, and I don't now.

Dan, Makwao, USA

I agree! This man is a real hero.

Carolyn Dennis, Dallas, TX

The pilot has clearly proved his mettle, it was an extaordinary feat of flying. I'm not sure if his actions can be classed as 'heroic' because he had no choice, it was simply a focussed, calm & extremely skillful reaction to the circumstances. I hope to meet him one day, buy him drink and shake his hand. ( Assuming 'he' is not a 'she'.)

Chris Webb, London UK,