VS27 16/04/2012 - Emergency Landing at LGW.

Looks like the runway is open again now.

I had work colleagues on this flight coming over to join us at a meeting. Very scary experience but the crew were highly praised.

I'm glad I flew over Saturday on a 747 but supposed to be flying back on a 330

no doubt the GLA-MCO will still be used by the other A333 but replacement Vs27/28 may be used by 3 class config A333?

Yes it will be a really headache as Neil points out. I guess the only saving grace is that it is at the end of the Easter and Spring Break holidays and still some 6-8weeks until the half term rush starts. I would imagine she will be out for a considerable time, well enough time for it to be a headache.

I doubt G-VRAY will be used as she is up and ready to go ex LHR. Key in this kind of sitatuion is to get the largest possible plane onto the rotue to clear the knock on effects. More likely will be that if an extra aircraft is needed a 744 will be drafted in from somewhere.I bet it's time like these that the fleet operations department are cursing the LGW refits. Having ROM available would have eased the issue.

IIRC this is only the second major incident for a VS aircraft (major being slides deployed) the other being the 343 emergency landing in around 1997 at LHR.

Regarding the fuel dump it appears that the VS 330s do not have fuel dump nozzles installed. Therefore this would have been an emergency landing at full weight. Expect that the airframe has suffered huge stress and could be out for considerable time.

Some chap quoted on the BBC as saying "I knew something was wrong as the plane was really wobbly on take-off"... lmao

Some chap quoted on the BBC as saying "I knew something was wrong as the plane was really wobbly on take-off"... lmao

And apparently the crew were really panicked and didn't know what they were doing! If the videos from the QF SIN flight and the air traffic control recordings of the BA flight are anything to go by the announcements would have been clear and concise and anything but panicked.

no doubt the GLA-MCO will still be used by the other A333 but replacement Vs27/28 may be used by 3 class config A333?

Don't forget the man-mco 333 service.

"The plane was really wobbly. The cabin crew made things worse. They were all really panicked."

British reporting at its best

Glad this incident caused no major injury, as has been said, the problem now for the ops team. Looks like VFIZ has a problem in Delhi as well, delayed 36 hours...

[Neil]

no doubt the GLA-MCO will still be used by the other A333 but replacement Vs27/28 may be used by 3 class config A333?

Don't forget the man-mco 333 service.

I would have thought the GLA flights will be operated by a 747, rather than change the daily VS75/76 flight.

From the BBC:

Tom Alridge said one of the cabin crew panicked upon landing.

"She was screaming like a banshee - 'Get off, get off' - she was literally pushing people down the chute," he said.

I think that's called 'her job'!

Just noticed the VS28 tonight is scheduled to be on G-VTOP, G-VTOP left LGW about an hour ago to operate the final virgin 'VS69' to Kingston, my guess would be that because this was the final VS69, the return flight (VS70) would have had a lighter load coming back to LGW and as a result they might be sending G-VTOP up to MCO to help out with the return flights home?.. just a thought...

LOL! Daily Mail "professional" reporting and I quote
"Mid-air terror as plane carrying 300 passengers on board is forced to make emergency landing at Gatwick as fire fills cabin with smoke"

Followed by :
"Four people were injured when a packed Florida-bound Virgin Atlantic passenger jet made an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport today after reports of a mid-Atlantic on-board fire - sparking chaos for thousands more travellers.
The giant America-bound Airbus A330-300 was forced to turn around mid-flight and land back in Britain just 90 minutes after take-off as the cabin filled with smoke."

Wow! these Airbuses are fast! only Three hours to Florida? fantastic speed!

Also to add to the problems, VRED has been delayed over night and not leaving on the 601 until the morning, further damage from the lightening strike. Will VRAY be pressed intto service to help sort this out...?

Just got home and seen this thread :0 So glad everyone ok and so glad I am on a 747 to MCO on Friday......... I will be the one studying my safety card very studiously and nervously |:)

Sunshine 8D

Yep, some serious scheduling problems in the near future without a doubt.

All crap reporting aside, everything I've read on various websites indicates a very good job done by the entire crew on that plane - so congrats to you, if you're reading (but suspect you're still in "de-briefs" and filling in paperwork).

"Terror".....well, it would probably have seemed terrifying to some on board, so let's not belittle the fright some people may have had...
At the very least, that airplane will be going in for extensive checks, so expect her to be out for weeks...

The exact nature of those checks will be informed by flight data recorders which should show the "hardness" of the landing and so on, which will inform how "stressed" the airframe itself may have been...

no doubt the GLA-MCO will still be used by the other A333 but replacement Vs27/28 may be used by 3 class config A333?

Don't forget the man-mco 333 service.

I would have thought the GLA flights will be operated by a 747, rather than change the daily VS75/76 flight.

Crikey, I'm on VS75 on Thursday which is due to be operated by the other A333. Why do you think the MAN-MCO route wont be affected?

Just got home and seen this thread :0 So glad everyone ok and so glad I am on a 747 to MCO on Friday......... I will be the one studying my safety card very studiously and nervously |:)

Sunshine 8D

Sunshine, work on the basis that statistically this greatly reduces the chance of another incident and relax....I am coming back the other way via NY on friday

My friend who works in Crawley just rang me to say she just went past Gatwick and stopped at the gap in the security gate at the end of the runway and saw her being limped into a hanger by a tug surrounded by lots of personell and airport vehicles, couldnt see any chutes (assume they had been removed before towing the aircraft.

Grateful for all onboard that was a succesfull emergency landing but still cant help feeling sad that this has happened to our beloved VS.

Looks like everyone is safe and well. Not nice for those involved but praise must be given to the flightdeck crew and the cabin crew.

Apparently it was a fire in the rear hold with smoke entering the cabin. How true this is I don't know but it make more sense than a fire in the cockpit.

Of course with it being a full emergency I doubt she will have been able to fuel dump as much fuel as would be normal and therefore she would have had a very heavy landing. I would imagine that there will have been some considerable stress on the aircraft and she will be out of action for quite a while.

I was surprised that they did not dumpfuel,thought it was something that was always done

from the evening standard "
Fire extinguishers were used to tackle a terrifying mid-air blaze on a packed Virgin Atlantic jet today as the cabin filled with smoke.



The aircraft with 312 passengers and crew on board was forced to return to Gatwick to make an emergency landing 20 minutes into its flight to Orlando.

Firefighters used powerful jets to douse the flames as the Airbus A330 stood on the runway"



anyone see any sign of foam ?

I was on G-VSXY last night/this morning on MCO-GLA, very please to see everybody (relatively) ok.

From the pictures I've seen, no foam and no sign of a "blaze". Anything to sell newspapers.

Conufsion abounds - until the AAIB investigation reports, everything is speculation.

One thing that is pure speculation, is that the fire fighters may have been spraying the landing gear (as a precaution), as all that kinetic energy is being reduced by breaking, which will have lead to incredibly high temporatures in the breaking systems. It is not uncommon to see flames after incredibly heavy breaking on a very heavy plane.

The fuel dump system is an airline option, VS apparently chose not to take that option on the A330s - i.e., they are unable to dump fuel.

Not a particular issue, as all planes are designed such that they can land at the maximum takeoff weight...

Scary stuff - fingers crossed everybody onboard is okay.

We are due to fly on the VS027 in exactly 2 weeks time - makes me a bit more nervous about our flight!

Am due to fly on the 27 this coming Friday..... am wondering if there'll be any knock-on effects...

Just got home and seen this thread :0 So glad everyone ok and so glad I am on a 747 to MCO on Friday......... I will be the one studying my safety card very studiously and nervously |:)

How do you know which aircraft it will be though???


Sunshine 8D