A British Airways plane has crash landed at Heathrow Airport, hitting the ground several hundred yards short of the runway and narrowly missing a busy road.

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The Boeing 777 had lowered its landing gear as it went for touchdown but witnesses have described how moments later it "dropped" out of the sky.

More than 150 people were forced to dive down inflatable chutes and onto the tarmac as emergency services rushed to the scene.

BA flight 38 came down as it was approaching the south runway of the London airport after flying from Beijing, the airline said.

Paul Venter, who was on board the aircraft, said: "We came in to land, I could hear the undercarriage come out and the next moment the plane just dropped."

Pictures of the crashed plane show the aircraft's mangled undercarriage - as if it had slid across the ground. The plane's wheels are on the ground away from the fuselage.

Serious damage is visible to the right engine and to both wings and the plane is surrounded by fire engines and a sea of firefighting foam.

The plane was described by witnesses as coming in at a "funny angle" as the nose of the aircraft lurched upwards before "belly-flopping" on to the grass. The pilot reportedly looked "pale and very drained" after the crash landing.

One airport worker said the captain, who BA said had been flying with the airline for nearly 20 years, had told him he had lost all power as he came in to land. BA could not confirm this report.

Scotland Yard said: "There is nothing to suggest at this stage that the incident is in any way terror-related."

Sky correspondent David Bowden, who is at Heathrow, said: "It looks as though, if something did go very wrong with this plane, it must have happened at the very last minute.

"No emergency was declared. There simply wasn't enough time."

Bowden added: "Air traffic control didn't know this was happening until it was too late."

Incredibly, only six passengers on the crashed plane have needed hospital treatment for minor injuries, London Ambulance Service said.

After a temporary halt to flights, air traffic controllers now say planes are taking off and landing on the airport's northern runway.

There are, however, many delays, with some planes diverted to other London airports.

The Prime Minister's flight to China was among those stuck on the runway after the drama.

On board, is Sky's political editor Adam Boulton, who said Mr Brown remained calm and joked: "Well you have got your story already then."

Sky producer Jonathan Levy said security at Heathrow was already higher than normal, both because of Gordon Brown's flight and because the Qatari royal family were due to pass through the airport.

Mr Brown's flight has now taken off safely.



http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080117/tuk-british-airways-flight-ba38-crash-la-45dbed5_9.html

@ poster
How does it relate to politics?

Where would you rather he posted it?
On the aviation section?