All Gatwick flights suspended

[zippy99]

Just seen that a Virgin plane taking off for Florida had to turn around and return to make an emergency landing.

It was a safe landing and everyone got off ok - but the plane is left on the runway meaning no flights in and out of Gatwick until further notice.

Hope this does not have an impact on any Dis'ers and their trip plans

Saw this on Yahoo:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/plane-gatwick-emergency-landing-121925010.html

 

[Sarah28]

just heard this on the radio - glad everyone is ok but what a pain for people due to go on holiday

 

[Shazzie B]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-17730154

All evacuated safely.

 

[Disneymad]

Flights are now resuming at Gatwick but obviously there are going to be delays now.

Do we know anyone who was on the Orlando flight who might of been on board? (Eep). Assume this will also mean a big for the people booked on the return leg too.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

It must have been very scary, the most important thing is that they are all safe. Lets hope they can re-start their holiday ASAP .

 

[Shazzie B]

Agree

Wasn't sure about posting as I didn't want to make any nervous flyers worse; but personally I find it quite reassuring that any hint of a problem its acted upon. Apologies if anyone would rather not know

 

[Disneymad]

I'm sure people are even reassured that in the event of a problem all the emergency stuff worked perfectly!

Plus there was already a thread in existence about it here anyhow

 

[queendisney]

Lordy...
I for one would have been in the 'thats it I am not gonna get back on a plane today' camp..My sister and I were in an emergancy landing years and years ago and it took us both a couple of years before we could get back on a plane. They thought they had run out of fuel mid air, but it was just faulty equipment!!!!!!!

But as you said on the bright side at least they didn't take any chances and came back and everybody seems ok.

Just to add to this...we have come to a hault 3 times going down the runway at MCO to take off with Virgine Atlantic...1st time there was a banging noise, so he slammed his brakes on just before the wheels left the tarmac, so going fast, turned round and found out it was unsecured luggage.
2nd and 3rd time a red warning light came on and they again slammed the brakes on at full speed, the light went off and they turned around and took off again!!!!!!!! The pilot just said it was all ok now and the light had gone out. You know how you look around the cabin to see if you really are the only one looking a tad concerned? well I did seem the only one that was bothered.! Can you tell I really hate flying?

 

[Linda67]

I was just on the VA website and spotted this

It's just good that everyone is safe and sound, I would have been terrified

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Thank goodness everyone is ok - like lots of here we are regular LGW to MCO with Virgin fliers. We had a similar experience on our first flight home (with Icelandic Air!!!!!) back in 2003. Three hours out of Orlando and they wanted to land but were refused permission by New York to land and therefore we ended up back in Orlando six hours after departure. Anyway all safe and that is what matters.

Now I wonder why DH hates flying

 

[kevin harrison]

My wife is a nervous flyer and won't be hearing about this. All news off for two days !!

 

[wayneg]

Plus there was already a thread in existence about it here anyhow

Merged the two threads

 

[LincolnCanary]

I have to say, I would rather fly than drive any day. I have great faith in pilots and strongly believe they save lives in incidents like this.

 

[london75]

Some more facts over on v-flyer if anyone is interested

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=274046&rb_v=viewtopic

Speculation that having to land fully fuelled will have caused stress to the aircraft which will see it out of action for a while. A real shame, especially if it turns out to have just been a faulty sensor which is possible.

 

[Disneymad]

Some more facts over on v-flyer if anyone is interested

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=274046&rb_v=viewtopic

Speculation that having to land fully fuelled will have caused stress to the aircraft which will see it out of action for a while. A real shame, especially if it turns out to have just been a faulty sensor which is possible.

Well the BBC reported it as being an actual (small) fire up the back of the plane. It's a really big deal to evacuate the plane mid-runway like they did - I don't think they'd have done that if they didn't believe that a threat to the plane was very real rather than just relying on a sensor saying there was a fire. Besides, smoke was also reported in the cabin.

As an aside, the plane would be out of action for a while anyhow due to the slides being deployed. Think of it as an airbag in your car, you can't just wrap those suckers up and pop them back, they'll have to re-fit new ones from scratch.

Edit: I also see now that the some criticism is coming from passengers about the cabin crew, particularly at one of the slides where they were reported as screaming and panicking passengers which lead to the injury's :-/

 

[london75]

Just an update this morning as the variety of news is crazy, quite how these media outlets can be allowed to get away with reporting so many different versions of the same story without waiting for actual facts astounds me! This can be really damaging for the airline, the aircraft's reputation and the crew who seem to have acted brilliantly even if some of the passengers didn't like it!

BBC now says

A spokeswoman said six fire appliances were called to the scene but actually dealt with a small fire on the undercarriage caused by the emergency landing.

and

A statement from Virgin Atlantic said the cause of the incident was under investigation.

It said: "Due to a technical problem on board the aircraft, the captain decided as a precautionary measure to immediately evacuate the aircraft

I'd really like to hear what happened in reality, I'm very anti-media and particularly despise BBC news for their current brand of opinion rather than fact based reporting.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

100% agree.

Im afraid in day and age the media love to rule by fear. A presumed headline of "Fire on plane", as opposed to "Faulty sensor may have caused emergency landing", is going to sell more papers
As i said in a previous post, the most important thing is everyone is safe

 

[disneyholic family]

from the reports of passengers, it sounds like the cabin crew could use a bit more emergency training.

 

[queendisney]

I feel sorry for todays passengers...they have canx the VS27 and all passengers have been put on the VS15, which is not going to be taking off until 6pm this evening!

 

[zippy99]

To me the Daily Mail report was the worst:

Original Headline was:
"Mid-air terror as plane carrying 300 passengers on board is forced to make an emergency landing at Gatwick as fire fills cabin with smoke"

The story then went on to refer to fire in 'the cockpit' which was then referred to as a fire at the rear of the aircraft. Said the flight was mid-atlantic - yet it made it back to Gatwick in 30 minutes!

Of course they have made significant corrections to the story now - but you can read many of their inaccuracies in the comments.

The media coverage of what appears to have been a technical fault or minor incident that was resolved in a timely and and well executed manner has been sensationalised to a drama of oscar winning proportions.

I feel terrible for any friends/relatives of people on that flight if they were looking for news!