LONDON, July 30: A British Airways passenger aircraft narrowly avoided what could have become one of the UK’s worst aviation accidents in recent years after suffering a serious in-flight systems failure while approaching London Heathrow Airport earlier this month.
The incident occurred on July 6 when the Airbus A320, operating a flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, experienced a sudden failure of its air data system at an altitude of about 4,000 feet during its final approach to Heathrow.
According to reports, the malfunction caused the aircraft to lose critical flight information, significantly increasing the risk of a loss of lift and an uncontrolled descent.
The first officer initially attempted to manage the emergency, but as the situation deteriorated, the captain took over manual control of the aircraft and successfully stabilized it, preventing a potentially fatal crash.
The event has been classified as an in-flight loss of control involving pilot intervention. Following the incident, the captain was placed on stress leave due to the psychological impact of the emergency.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the systems failure and review the crew’s response.
No injuries were reported among the passengers or crew.
