Times Online TV: Ben Webster briefing

Passengers at Heathrow faced delays and minor cancellations today as air accident investigators worked to explain the catastrophic loss of power that forced a British Airways passenger jet to crash-land short of the runway yesterday afternoon.

British Airways said that it was planning to operate all long-haul departures and up to 90 per cent of its short-haul departures from the main London airport today. "Pretty much everything is going as scheduled," a spokesman said, although he advised customers to check the BA.com website for details of individual flights.

Gordon Brown heaped praise on the crew and pilot of the stricken Boeing 777 that crash-landed at Heathrow at 12.42pm with 135 passengers aboard. All the passengers and crew were evacuated.

Flight BA038 from Beijing landed just short of the runway and yards from a busy road before skidding across the grass and pulling up around a kilometre from another aircraft that was about to take the Prime Minister and a business delegation on an official visit to China.

The undercarriage was wrecked and two giant wheel units were ripped off, but miraculously the passengers were safely evacuated and only 18 needed treatment for minor injuries.

“I think it’s right to pay tribute to the calmness and professionalism of the British Airways staff and the Captain and what he achieved in landing the aircraft," Mr Brown said after arriving in Beijing earlier today.

“The speed of the evacuation we saw at first-hand, and the total professionalism and dedication of the staff. It’s at times like these you remember you are in the hands of staff who do a remarkable job.

“When we arrived at the airport, we knew there was an incident taking place and at the same time we saw the evacuation taking place very quickly indeed. I’m very pleased to hear people are safe.”

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is now investigating the incident amid speculation about engine failure and has promised an initial report by the end of tomorrow.

One airport worker said the pilot, Captain Peter Burkill, 43, told him the plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, lost all power as he came in to land. He said: “He just glided it in and lifted the nose up and managed to get it down. He lost power very close to coming in to land. He said he had no warning - it just went.

“It’s a miracle. The man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan. He has done a fantastic job.”

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