2008 BA crash in Heathrow blamed on ice

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has come up with a report saying that the British Airways (BA) crash that had happened on 17 January 2008 in Heathrow was most likely caused by an accumulation of ice on its fuel system.

AAIB concluded that the Boeing 777 plane lost power on both of its engines due to restricted fuel flow. Fortunately, it safely landed with none of its 152 people onboard seriously injured. Ever since its crash landing, the ruined aircraft is still lying at the end of Heathrow’s southern airstrip.

The investigation report stated that ice had possibly built up from water within the fuel system, which resulted to the aircraft’s problematic landing. It was just fortunate that no fire followed the crash that had damaged the plane’s gas tanks. If happened, it could cause far more disaster to all onboard passengers.

BA praised Captain Peter Burkill and First Officer John Coward for their heroism, and honoured them with the airline’s Safety Medal. Recalling the incident, Burkill and Coward narrated that they were only aware of the potential engine thrust trouble just 43sec from touchdown. They instantly reacted and changed the plane’s setting instead. Indeed, some of the passengers had not known what had really happened to the plane until they were instructed to hastily leave their seats.

Just 10 months after the incident, another Boeing 777 aircraft from Delta Airlines had suffered the same ice problem while flying in the US.

The AAIB has now formulated 18 safety recommendations following the two flying incidents. In addition, Boeing and Rolls-Royce, which assembles jet engines, said that they had also taken steps to avoid ice occurrence from recurring.