wylie_heathrow 27L go around 2
One of three go-arounds I photographed: BA 296 from Chicago to London Heathrow. Descended to a height of 700 feet around 10:18am before aborting the landing and crossing the runway threshold at 1,500 feet. Eventually landed at 10:33am. (WebTrak info)
Great skill shown by pilots in strong winds at Heathrow Airport on the morning of Saturday Feb 15 2014. These photos show some dramatic landing approaches to runway 27L and a few bumpy landings - but all completed safely. There were also several "go arounds" with descending aircraft aborting their landing to fly straight over the runway before turning to eventually re-join the queue of approaching planes. The winds caused some aircraft destined for Heathrow to be diverted over the weekend with added delays and cancellations.
Wind speeds gusted to a maximum of 41 knots (47.18mph) when these photos were taken compared to peak gusts of 49 knots (56.3mph) recorded at 2320 the night before. But peak gusts were higher at times on Saturday morning than during certain periods on Friday night when aircraft were also performing go-arounds and some were diverted.
The Sunday Times carried a front page story the next day (First five pars):
FIVE aircraft unable to land at Heathrow and Gatwick were forced to declare emergencies, some perilously close to running out of fuel, in the latest storm to batter Britain.
Passengers on one flight circling London screamed as it was tossed around like a “paper plane” by 60mph winds at the height of Friday night’s storm.
Aircraft unable to land at airports in the southeast were diverted to Manchester, where they were met by emergency crews.
Airline sources say four diverted jets made “mayday” distress calls, the most serious state of emergency. Three believed they were running out of reserve fuel and one, an American Airlines jet, had a problem with its rudder.
A BA flight from Moscow to Heathrow with 143 passengers on board declared a lower level emergency. Its pilot aborted one landing as it was hit by a strong gust of wind only 30 feet from the runway.
Subsequent statement from Heathrow:
"The story in the Sunday Times is untrue. There were no mayday or distress calls received at Heathrow. Due to high cross winds some aircraft were diverted to other UK airports that have spare runway capacity."
wylie_heathrow 27L go around 2
One of three go-arounds I photographed: BA 296 from Chicago to London Heathrow. Descended to a height of 700 feet around 10:18am before aborting the landing and crossing the runway threshold at 1,500 feet. Eventually landed at 10:33am. (WebTrak info)
Great skill shown by pilots in strong winds at Heathrow Airport on the morning of Saturday Feb 15 2014. These photos show some dramatic landing approaches to runway 27L and a few bumpy landings - but all completed safely. There were also several "go arounds" with descending aircraft aborting their landing to fly straight over the runway before turning to eventually re-join the queue of approaching planes. The winds caused some aircraft destined for Heathrow to be diverted over the weekend with added delays and cancellations.
Wind speeds gusted to a maximum of 41 knots (47.18mph) when these photos were taken compared to peak gusts of 49 knots (56.3mph) recorded at 2320 the night before. But peak gusts were higher at times on Saturday morning than during certain periods on Friday night when aircraft were also performing go-arounds and some were diverted.
The Sunday Times carried a front page story the next day (First five pars):
FIVE aircraft unable to land at Heathrow and Gatwick were forced to declare emergencies, some perilously close to running out of fuel, in the latest storm to batter Britain.
Passengers on one flight circling London screamed as it was tossed around like a “paper plane” by 60mph winds at the height of Friday night’s storm.
Aircraft unable to land at airports in the southeast were diverted to Manchester, where they were met by emergency crews.
Airline sources say four diverted jets made “mayday” distress calls, the most serious state of emergency. Three believed they were running out of reserve fuel and one, an American Airlines jet, had a problem with its rudder.
A BA flight from Moscow to Heathrow with 143 passengers on board declared a lower level emergency. Its pilot aborted one landing as it was hit by a strong gust of wind only 30 feet from the runway.
Subsequent statement from Heathrow:
"The story in the Sunday Times is untrue. There were no mayday or distress calls received at Heathrow. Due to high cross winds some aircraft were diverted to other UK airports that have spare runway capacity."