British Airways aeroplane strikes tail while trying to land

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

A British Airways pilot attempting to land at Heathrow Airport on Monday was branded a hero for avoiding a major accident while attempting to touch ground. The BA plane was filmed struggling to approach the runway as strong winds sparked by disruptive Storm Corrie wreaked havoc across the UK. Plane spotters shared terrifying footage showing the plane struggling against the wind to approach the runway at London’s largest airport for an attempted landing.

The video shows the tail of the jet violently hitting the tarmac and nearly flipping over before forcing the pilot to launch in a “touch and go” manoeuvre, quickly taking off one again to try a new landing attempt.

The footage shows the plane swaying in the wind before attempting to touch down – with witnesses noting paint dust can be seen coming off the tail once striking the runway.

The plane spotters praised the pilot for his quick thinking and his ability to maintain control over the aircraft despite the challenging conditions.

The BA flight ultimately landed safely at Heathrow Airport.

JUST IN: Ukraine crisis explodes as EU pulls plug on gas project – Putin threatens to CUT supplies

In addition to causing severe disruption to planes and other transport, Storm Corrie left hundreds more without power after several communities were already left struggling by earlier Storm Malik.

Nearly 30,000 people were estimated to be without energy still on Tuesday, with Northern Powergrud saying 7,000 homes across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Country Durham.

Corrie hit the country on Sunday evening, with wind speeds of more than 90mph recorded in places, including a gust of 92mph at Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire. 

ower companies are confident that the vast majority of those affected should be reconnected by Tuesday, but recognise that there may still be some outages going into Wednesday.

Storm Corrie ‘still packing a punch’ says Kirkwood

A 9-year-old boy in Staffordshire and a 60-year-old woman in Aberdeen died after the strong winds tore down trees on Saturday.

Some schools in Aberdeenshire were either closed or delayed opening on Monday, because of the disruption

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)’s Richard Gough said Storm Corrie hitting on Sunday evening through to Monday morning had “compounded” the challenge they faced.

Mr Gough said: “Our teams have continued to make strong progress restoring power to customers impacted by the extreme weather from Storm Malik, with over 90% of those customers restored.

“Whilst our teams are making every effort to restore customers as soon as possible, the cumulative impact of Storms Malik and Corrie has compounded the restoration challenge.

“As a result, we are advising customers that while expected restoration of customer supplies from Storm Malik remains Tuesday evening, restoration times for some of those impacted by Storm Corrie may now extend to Wednesday.”

He also apologised to those affected, stressing that “all available resources have been deployed to support with restoration efforts”.

Mr Gough added: “Our teams are doing all they can to restore power as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so.”

SSEN teams have been out since first light to try to assess the damage and restore power as quickly as possible.

While people are without electricity, SSEN has put in place a range of welfare and support facilities.

Source: Read Full Article