Too early to speculate on cause of Heathrow crash...

[Gromit]

But do you think it could have just run out of fuel?

The fuel tanks in a Boeing 777 are in the wings which were extensively damaged, but no fire occurred. The engines shut down 20 seconds before landing, so there was no time to dump the fuel.

Fuel tanks on Boeing 777

damaged wing

The accident interim report is due within 48 hours, any thoughts before that?

[China Doll]

I think it was the mooslems.

I hear there was a foreign looking person with a rutsack on the plane.

Bloody softie liberal left will cover it up, no balls.

Etc....

[4GS]

I've just heard on the news that it may have been a bird strike

[eah]

My brother-in-law works for an airline and he said his engineers said it was very unusual for both engines to shut down togethet in fact unheard of. They were discussing this possibly of no fuel .being the case.Nonetheless the pilot brought them all down safely......thank God.....

[vehelpfulguy]

>thank God.....

Why thank God.

Why not thank pilot.

If there was a God he would not have let them run out of fuel.

[Bewlay Bros]

You say no fire occurred, but.........................

Is aviation fuel any more volatile than normal car petrol??

You see on the news huge pile ups on the motorway and the aftermath of many car crashes yet how often are there fires??

Not that often.

[smudge]

Whatever the cause, the pilot deserves a medal for bringing the plane to a safe landing & saving lives, including his own.

(That's if it wasn't pilot error of course).

[Goodsoulette]

Aviation fuel is less volatile. It has to withstand higher temperatures and be able to avoid freezing.

[4GS]

Do they still use Kerosene as aviation fuel?

[delboy3]

Why all the fuss?

If the same thing had happened in Manchester / Glasgow / Bristol / Leeds et cetera, it wouldn't have hogged the headlines two days in a row.

Typical London bias. Pah!

[Gromit]

One passenger is quoted as saying
"There was lots of smoke in the cabin and everyone was in a panic. The two stewardesses were very calm and told everyone to sit down."

There have been other instances of commercial aircraft running out of fuel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Fligh t_236

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_glider

[Goodsoulette]

Its probably inapproproate but they were possibly the most exciting wikipedia links I have ever read. The first one was almost a bit Spielberg.

[kwicky]

I believe it may have been an electrical fault. The switchover from auto to manual pilot had just taken place.

Its highly unlikely to be engine failure as the odds are astonomical both going at the same time as well.

Also the engines were still going according to eyewitnesses as they heard a terrific engine noise before crashing.

[anotheoldgit]

If the Flight Crew was aware of a shorted of fuel, the Captain would have signalled that he was making a landing at an airport on the continent.

If they was not aware, then the fuel gauges must have been faulty. But even so having flew all the way from China it seems very unllkey that the fuel ran out just meters from it's home runway. Did the plane stop previously to be refilled?

With the obvious danger of flocks of birds entering the engines of airliners, is it inot possible that some kind of grid or deflector could be fitted, so as to prevent this danger to the engines?

[Gromit]

Just remembered the Kegworth Aircash when a plane came down short of the runway. That plane plane diintergrated on impact, but there was no significant fire. That accident was attributed to a malfunction compounded by pilot error. They had a problem in an engine, and they shut down the good one by mistake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disa ster

[Trotbot]

Unless the gauges were faulty, or there was more water in the fuel tanks thank normal, lack of fuel is unlikely. It has happened before, but it is possible to land and even rupture tanks without a flash fire
Windshear is a possibility, but does not fit in very well with ditching ahead of the runway with the final flight pattern that was taken
Total loss of electrical power and engines is unheard of
Pilot error if one engine failed (like Kegworth) is possible, so maybe birdstrike

The engine 'noise' heard by passengers was probably the RAT (Ram Air Turbine), which provides emergency power to the plane if the engine fails.

[anotheoldgit]

Ups!!! for Shorted please read Shortage.

[anotheoldgit]

The engine 'noise' heard by passengers was probably the RAT (Ram Air Turbine), which provides emergency power to the plane if the engine fails.

Or perhaps the reverse thrust used to slow down the aircraft.

[Gromit]

anotheoldgit

If the power failed as has been mention, then there would be no thrust forward or reverse. The air breaks on the wings are used to slow the plane while it is in the air. I think reverse thrust is used after touchdown.

The bird strike theory is unlikely to take out both engines simultaneously, and a 777 should be able to land successfully on one engine. Unless that then resulted in the pilot doing something wrong to compensate.

I'm no expert,

[Trotbot]

Mr Git, quite possibly. However, engine failure was reported, the RAT makes a lot of noise and the pictures appeared to show it had been deployed.

At this stage it is all a WAG