The UK Air Accident Investigation Board has released the results of their investigation of the British Airways BA38.
For those who have forgotten, BA38 was the Beijing Capital to London Heathrow flight that crashed at the threshold of the runway 27 at Heathrow in January 208 with all 152 people evacuated safely from the aircraft.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER (G-YMMM), had its engines stalled at 34 seconds landing. Flaps were adjusted from 30 to 25 degrees, trying to prevent stall, buying 51 meters extra and helping the aircraft land within the Heathrow field.
The findings was ice had developed, due to the unusually low cruise fuel burn and a very cold outside so the fuel was equally cold, with ice building up, so when the plane descended, the soft ice had not melted, and blocked the fuel-oil heat exchanger plate, smothering it and blocking the fuel flow to the engines.
It’s said any landing you can walk away from is a good one, and the actions of the captain and copilot helped saved every life aboard that plane that day.
Additional resources:
BBC News
Flight – Flaps
Flight – Fuel Restriction
