Virgin Atlantic Flight: Another Air mishap averted....

Crying passengers on board a transatlantic flight have hailed a hero pilot after he was forced to perform an emergency landing on broken landing gear.

The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 with more than 450 people on board was meant to go to Las Vegas but was forced to return to London after developing a technical fault shortly after take-off.

For several hours the jumbo jet circled the airport and made several low-altitude passes so engineers could inspect the landing gear problem, leaving some passengers distraught as they were forced to adopt the brace position. 

The plane finally landed with only three quarters of its landing gear down after a set of wheels on the starboard wing refused to drop.See photo below:

 

Passenger Dan Crane, 24, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, said the mood before the landing was 'anxious'. He said: 'A lot were worried, some crying. They said it was an emergency landing and we had to brace on impact.' 

But the terrified passengers then cheered and applauded the hero pilot - named only by passengers as 'Dave' - after he landed the jumbo jet sThe plane had to turn back towards London over the Devon coast less than 30 minutes after taking off for America at just before midday today.  

The jet landed at Gatwick at 3.45pm today where it was met on the runway and surrounded by the emergency services.

Passengers on board were asked to adopt the brace position as the plane came in to land.

Mike Kaufman, who was on the plane, said it would go down as one of the 'greatest emergencies in history'.

He said: 'When we landed you can imagine the relief. 

Wow...Thank God!..Can just imagine how frightened the passengers must have been.....




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