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LONDON - A British Airways plane which crash landed at London's Heathrow airport lost all power in the last stages of its descent, it has been reported.
An airport worker told the BCC that the pilot said the plane lost all power and was forced to glide to land.
Telegraph.co.uk named the captain as Peter Burkill and said he was being treated as a hero for preventing massive loss of life.
It said he glided the plane over houses, airport buildings and a road and then belly flopped it on to grass at 161km/h just inside Heathrow's perimeter fence.
As many as 18 people were injured and an investigation has started as to why the Boeing 777 - flying in from China - landed short of the runway.
The airport worker said the pilot told him there was no warning and the electronics just failed instantly, the BBC reported.
Air New Zealand operates eight Boeing 777s and said it was too early to comment on any impact on its fleet until the cause of the British Airways crash was known. Its services out of Heathrow were affected by delays.
Fire engines smothered the aircraft in foam after the landing at the world's busiest international airport extensively damaged its wings and ripped off its undercarriage.
The wheels of the plane, which had a routine maintenance check in December, were still in the field where it crashed, several hundred metres from the runway.
"I win the lottery today," Fernando Prado, one of the 136 passengers on board, said after being safely evacuated by emergency chute from the wreckage.
He said the landing gear appeared to fail. "I saw the engine on the tarmac.
Everything was over quickly. There was no panic at all," he told BBC News.
An airport spokesman said in a statement that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch was inspecting the aircraft.
"BA Flight 38 arriving from Beijing made an emergency landing at 1242," he said.
"Passengers were immediately evacuated and taken to a reception centre at the airport.
"Heathrow Airport's southern runway was closed immediately after the incident. It has now re-opened for take-offs only. The northern runway is operating for arriving aircraft."
BAA said 11 passengers suffered minor injuries and warned travellers would face chaos as many flights were subject to delays while others were cancelled. Normally about 40 flights an hour touch down at Heathrow, just west of the capital, with a further 40 taking off.
It is unclear how long the disruption will last.
The ambulance service said three people were slightly injured. British Airways said it had no comment to offer on why the plane came down.
In a statement, BA chief executive Willie Walsh described his crew, which he said followed safety procedures to the letter, as magnificent.
"The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years," he said.
A London police spokeswoman said: "There is nothing to suggest it is terror-related."
One eyewitness, Steve Bell, said the wheels were not down on landing, and he heard a grating noise.
"It turned about 90 degrees on landing. Its wheels were not down. Within minutes fire crews arrived and evacuated all the passengers," he told BBC News 24 television.
Among the planes delayed was a flight Prime Minister Gordon Brown was taking on an official trip to India and China.
- REUTERS, NZ HERALD STAFF
