Virgin airliner preparing for emergency landing at Gatwick

Breaking news:

http://news.sky.com/story/1399293/landing-gear-fault-on-virgin-plane-circling-uk

Landing Gear Fault On Virgin Plane Circling UK
15:38, UK, Monday 29 December 2014

Virgin Atlantic has confirmed there is a landing gear problem with a flight thought to be circling over Sussex.

The Boeing 747 jumbo is preparing for a "non standard landing" at Gatwick because of a "technical issue with one of the landing gears", said a statement.

It was in a holding pattern near Newhaven but is now heading back to the airport, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.

Experts have told Sky News the flight may have been dumping fuel and photos appear to show one of the landing gears at an angle.

"The lighter the aircraft is the slower it can land," said air traffic control expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes.

Flight VS43 took off at 11.44am from Gatwick and was heading to Las Vegas.

Twitter users have reported seeing emergency vehicles heading for the West Sussex airport.

A tweet by the airport said: "In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution."

Flight data appears to show the aircraft made it to the South West before turning back.

More follows...

And Thank God, it seems to have landed safely.

bb1, I agree with you.

It seems to have been a perfect landing, with no panic - one of the passengers is talking now, saying the Virgin cabin crew were wonderful and calm. And the plane doesn't seem to have suffered any damage.

Thank the Lord for some good news for once.

Beautiful landing - check out the two videos..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890093/Virgin-Boeing-747-flight-Gatwick-Las-Vegas-returns-airport-landing-gear-fault.html

My yes, it certainly was! I gather thousands of people were watching the plane, as it was flying low over so many populated areas this afternoon.

So glad it all ended well.

Oh, I've just seen a head-on view of it at present, the port wing is well down.

Oh my! Kudos to the pilots for landing so well and crew for staying calm.

I see the cabin crew getting much deserved praise for their calm demeanour, Lily. I suspect people watching from the ground may have been more panicked, as an awful lot of folk in southern England seem to have seen the plane circling, etc., with something clearly wrong.

Thank goodness something ended well this year, it hasn't been the happiest.

I'm thrilled for them too, Bonny. Like you, it's making a nice change to have something positive to end the year on.

I'm a frequent flyer of theirs so am always happy to read something good about them.

You can see the sparks in that shot.

The captain is being very modest and not disclosing his name to the media. What a guy together with his First Officer!