AVIATION/ BA FL38 CRASH RECORDINGS SURFACE

Audio and video air traffic recordings have emerged of the moment when a BRITISH AIRWAYS Boeing 777 crashed short of runway 27L at London Heathrow last year, on January 17, 2008. The recording depicts the Heathrow runway incursion monitoring and conflict alert system (RIMCAS), and shows BA Flight 38 approaching the runway, and being cleared to land, before its identifying signal abruptly stops. Accompanying audio shows that the crew acknowledged the landing clearance, and that ATC then instructed a taxiing flight, BA Flight 229, to wait for the 777 to pass before crossing the runway. But the routine transmissions end as the inbound BA crew declares "mayday, mayday" and a tower controller tells BA FL229 to hold its position. "Aircraft accident, aircraft accident," the controller states. "The position is the threshold runway 27L, aircraft type is a triple-seven." (The 2 photos above show BA Flight 38 moments before touchdown, and at the exact moment it touches down on the runway. The photo below was taken after the accident, and after all onboard had been evacuated).

The recording appears to capture issuance of an evacuation instruction over the air traffic frequency, answered by an assurance that firefighters are en route. As fire crews approach the scene, an inbound QATAR AIRWAYS aircraft, flight QR011, is ordered to execute a go-around and controllers begin assigning landing aircraft to Heathrow's other parallel runway. The RIMCAS display shows the tracks of vehicles converging on the crash site, while an emergency unit confirms that "chutes have been deployed" on the 777. "We have an aircraft crash on the threshold of 27L," the recording continues, as the decision is taken to close 27L. "We need to switch everything to 27R and then stop things coming in for the time being." BA FL38 had been arriving on an International Flight from Beijing, China. All 152 occupants survived the accident, the cause of which is suspected to have been simultaneous ice congestion in the twin-jet's engine fuel lines.