BOTH engines GONE | British Airways CRASH in London

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On January 17th, 2008, a mysterious failure caused a British Airways Boeing 777 to come crashing down just short of London’s Heathrow airport. This was the first full loss of a 777 aircraft, which had been operating without serious issue since 1995.

In a strange twist, the culprit in this accident seemed to vanish after the crash, leaving investigators puzzled. Speculation was rife after the accident, with some saying that a software glitch may have downed the aircraft, or that there may have been radio interference from the prime minister’s motorcade which was passing nearby at the time. In the end, they found that the cause was both far simpler, and far more pernicious.

The story of this flight shows how a collection of circumstances which on their own are harmless, can combine to cause an accident. This is also a story of how experience, and quick-thinking, can be the difference between life and death.

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Interview with the Captain

Wikipedia

Qatar airways picture:

Fire brigade picture:

Other pictures from Final Report:

ATC Audio:

[ChasingChevy]

The fact that they weren't able to glide any farther after hours in the sim is incredible. It means the flight crew on the actual flight did everything perfect without notice and in the moment. Bravo.

[PavanKumar-fyfq]

I love how the captain made the decision to trust the skills of the first officer to let him continue flying the plane, so that the captain can be in charge of making critical decisions without any distractions. For example the decision he made to set the flap at 25 which eventually led to being the main reason for saving everyone on board, was the most optimal thing he could've done. Even future flight simulations couldn't make a better landing. Hats off to the crew for their skills, and calm and quick thinking in the very short limited time they had.

[roninsteel]

Damn, the guy who broke his leg is both super lucky and unlucky. Imagine, everyone else got by without injury, but you took a landing gear to the knee. You dodged a bullet, but the planes wheels got you.

[MikeKelleyandScooby]

I love when the pilots come out vindicated. My father was an airline captain for 38 years, we discuss many of these incidents which he often has first hand knowledge of from being in the industry at the time and I gotta say that you're usually spot on. For reference, dad flew the DC10, 727, 737, 757 and the A320 at the end of his career, and I'm a truck driver, because I'm terrified of flying, haha.

[ederss]

The drag difference between flaps 30 and 25 is huge. You'd think that changing the flaps so close to the ground would make no difference but it clearly saved the plane from a complete tragedy. The fact the captain let the FO fly and changed the flaps is amazing. A true hero.

[Dakiraun]

Excellent quick thinking by the captain! It's great to hear that everyone survived this one.

[WaitingForTheSubway]

I love this channel. It has all the best parts of the longer airplane crash tv shows, but none of the boring dragged-out story. He always focuses on the important parts. I hope more are coming! I think I’ve watched them all by now 😂

[davidedwards]

I work on intensive care. I regularly deal with life or death situations. But I cannot even contemplate the level of experience, ability, mental agility and sheer brilliance of the pilots in this situation. This is absolutely incredible and it leaves me in awe. Utter heroes

[BigBlueJake]

I'm glad I found this channel. Even if the same accidents and incidents are featured in nearly all air crash investigation channels, each episode maker puts in different little details that make a more complete picture of what happened.

It also keeps me from dying of boredom after I've binge watched "Mayday" for the umpteenth time!

[adambanks]

Thanks for the really interesting video Green Dot Aviation!

You'll notice 2 mistakes made over the ATC by Captain Burkill.

1) He uses the wrong callsign in his MAYDAY call. Speedbird 95 is the callsign used when pilots are practicing emergencies in the simulator at BA.

2) He transmits the evacuation command over ATC instead of the cabin PA. However this is also considered a wise move because ATC and fire rescue are now aware that the aircraft is being evacuated so there will be passengers on the runway.

I had the pleasure of reading Captain Burkill's book on this whole accident and the effects it had on his life, particularly how he was mistreated at BA afterwards with lots of rumours being told about how he froze at the controls. In fact his decision to keep Senior First Office John Coward to fly the aircraft whilst he troubleshooted and then retracted 1 stage of flaps is what saved this aircraft from crashing short of the airport and potentially killing all onboard plus people on the ground.

Apart from an onboard fire, losing thrust at low altitude during takeoff or landing is the worst situation. You are slow with lots of drag (flaps and gear down) and especially at Heathrow you are flying over a large metropolitan city.

The funny story is that nearly one year later, we withessed US Airways 1549 in the Hudson. Captain Sully, FO Jeff Skiles and their crew were treated like heros in the USA (and rightly so) and this was especially encouraged by US Airways. They had their full support.

This should have been the case for the BA crew, but BA didn't give them the support and the UK media tried to turn them from heros to villains over night. Captain Burkill did a news conference shortly after the accident and announced that his senior first officer was pilot flying. The UK media was confused by this (as they are by most aviation stories) and tried to create a narrative that Captain Burkill did nothing and it was all down to his senior first officer.

Just to clear up my point on the wrong callsign. This had no negative effect on the outcome because ATC knew immediately a BA aircraft was in distress just by hearing the MAYDAY call. And after all we are all human so if the wrong callsign is the only mistake made by the crew, then that shows what a great job they did.

I believe Captain Burkill is still at BA and his senior first officer John Coward is now a captain. Captain Burkill left BA shortly after the accident (he took redundancy) and tried to apply for a job at Emirates but was rejected due to having a crash on his record. He was able to rejoin BA a few years later.

There was also a relief pilot on the flight (First Officer Conor Magenis) but I am not sure what he is up to these days.

[petervandolah]

Your attention to detail in the preparation of these videos is just outstanding ...

[alcoholfree]

Goodness, these adventures are so well done that I’m watching one after another; I’ll end up watching all of your episodes soon! You are a great storyteller. It’s a good thing that a human was in charge of the plane!!

[moviemakerz]

if i was the first officer i would feel very proud if i was told that the captain had full faith in my abilities to fly the plane during an unknown error while he focused on making other adjustments. to me that speaks volumes about the respect for each other that was being displayed during that time. its also a perfect example of crew resource management and situational awareness.

[LunaticTheCat]

What an amazing crew, their incredibly skillful piloting ended up saving the lives of so many.

[rilmar]

It's amazing that everyone survived!

[FrancisXLord]

Can I just marvel at the pilot's quick thinking, and the manner in which the Air Traffic Controllers handled the situation. I'd have been screeching in an indiscernible girly voice, 'Crash! Holy God! Crash!' They said exactly what needed saying without a single word to waste in the calmest professional manner. This is what saved everyone on this plane, I hope everyone had a rise in salary after this. Bravo Gentlemen! Bravo!

[roryryan]

Excellent channel. Crisp, excellent detail, focused.

[josephconnor]

This video provides a great explanation of this accident. Thank you for your stellar work!!

[Guangrui]

First time to hear a Captain made a conscious decision to leave his copilot on the handle at such moment, amazing!

[tonyfletcher]

The success was due to pilots who have had many hours of hands on flying experience. Everything is so automated these days many younger pilots freeze up in these circumstances. Excellent job by the crew! Thanks for a great video!