Description

On 17 January 2008, a Boeing 777-200 powered by Rolls Royce Trent 800 engines and being operated by British Airways on a scheduled passenger flight from Beijing to London Heathrow with a relief pilot present on the flight deck was on an ILS approach to runway 27L at destination with the AP and A/T engaged after an uneventful flight and in day Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC). At approximately 2 nm from touchdown, there was a sudden substantial loss of thrust on both engines which could not be restored by flight crew action. The aircraft touched down just within the airfield perimeter but 330 metres short of the runway threshold before sliding 372 metres towards and almost onto the runway and coming to a stop.

There was a substantial leakage of fuel and also of some oxygen, but no fire started and a successful evacuation was achieved using all the slides. One of the 152 occupants suffered a serious injury caused by impact from a detached part of the landing gear assembly which penetrated the fuselage during the ground slide and 46 others suffered minor injuries, mainly during the evacuation. Substantial damage occurred to the aircraft landing gear and the engines were subject to ingestion of surface material and functional disruption during the ground slide.