A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency stop at Heathrow after the plane’s landing gear failed, it has emerged.
The flight, carrying 293 passengers, had to return to the airport when the crew made the shocking discovery that the switch for the landing gear was stuck.
Despite this, the pilot managed to safely land the Boeing 747-436 at Heathrow with only the nose and body landing gear deployed, averting a potential disaster.
The report from the Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) revealed that the landing gear on the plane had been replaced shortly before the flight from Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
But after take-off the crew found that the landing gear lever could not be moved and decided to return to Heathrow.
Fortunately for the 310 people aboard the flight, the pilots managed to lower part of the gear using the extension procedure.
The plane then landed at Heathrow with half of the plane’s braking power, causing it to slide right to the end of the runway.
The report stated: “The landing gear lever jam was attributed to a maintenance error which had resulted in incorrect rigging of the landing gear lever system.”
The fault in the landing gear has been attributed to a rig pin not being fitted in the equipment
It is believed the problem was caused by an engineer losing concentration when taking a break, as well as an inadequate handover sheet.
The report adds: "The following causal factors were identified by the operator’s maintenance investigation:
"The distraction of the engineer when he saw the quadrant move and he took his break and an inadequate handover between the night shift and the day shift."
The incident happened on January 30 but the AAIB report has only just been released.
