British Airways flight makes emergency landing after fault discovered mid-air

British Airways flight makes emergency landing after fault discovered mid-air Heathrow, the world’s seventh busiest airport, was forced to close one of its two runways after the BA flight from Rome was forced to abort its landing just 450 feet above the ground due to a fault A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a technical fault with the aircraft today. The British Airways Airbus A320 was coming in to land at London Heathrow Airport just after 1pm this afternoon when the crew noticed a mechanical problem. The plane, flight BA547, had taken off from Rome Fiumicino Airport at 11:40 local time and operated normally on its flight before it began its descent over the English Channel without incident. It was not until the plane was on its final approach to land at Heathrow that flight crew found a problem with the hydraulic system that affected the aircraft’s landing gear deploying properly. The massive jet was just 450 feet (137 metres) above the ground when the crew were forced to abort the landing and perform a “go-around” manoeuvre to allow time to safely explore the technical fault. The aircraft climbed back to 3,700 feet and entered a holding pattern for approximately 20 minutes while the crew frantically worked their way through a series of emergency checklists to try and isolate the fault. As the plane circled and the flightcrew worked their way through the checklists the pilots transmitted a Squawk 7700 code (the international transponder code indicating a general emergency) to request priority handling from air traffic control. After completing the necessary procedures, the crew lined up for a second approach and landed safely at 1:45pm. Airport fire and rescue services raced onto the runway to meet the incoming jet, as is standard procedure when a plane suffers a landing gear-related emergency. Air traffic controllers at Heathrow, the world’s seventh busiest airport, were forced to divert planes away from the northern runway, known as 09L, for the duration of the emergency. All inbound flights were immediately shifted to Heathrow’s southern runway, 09R, for around 10 minutes while the aircraft was safely inspected and cleared from the active runway. No injuries were reported among the passengers or crew onboard. Flight operations at Heathrow quickly returned to normal with minimal lingering delays. The Mirror has contacted BA for a comment.