Virgin Atlantic Flight 024 was a regularly scheduled

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic A ...

passenger flight from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to London, United Kingdom. On 5 November 1997, the

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-haul, long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the Airbus A300, A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 qu ...

was forced to make an emergency landing at London

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

after the left main landing gear failed to deploy. During the crash landing, the aircraft was damaged and later repaired. Of the 114 passengers and crew aboard, 7 were lightly injured.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an Airbus A340-311, registered G-VSKY with manufacturer serial number 016. It made its first flight on 3 November 1993 and was delivered soon after to

on 21 January 1994. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 19,323 hours. It was fitted with four CFM International CFM56-5C2 high-bypass

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

engines.

Accident

At 05:09 GMT (21:09 local time), flight VS024 departed from runway 24L in Los Angeles following a 19-minute delay. While climbing, the crew noticed that the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

was slow to retract. Later, during a routine in-flight systems scan, it was noted that the no. 6 brake temperature sensor on the inboard rear wheel of the main landing gear had failed, but the flight was otherwise uneventful. At 15:04 GMT, while on final approach to

Runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

27L at London Heathrow, the crew received an aural "Gear unsafe" alert after deploying the landing gear, After which, the first officer, who was the pilot flying, elected to

go around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on Final_approach_(aeronautics), final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for var ...

at 2.5 nm from the runway threshold and return to a

holding pattern In aviation, holding (or flying a hold) is a maneuver designed to delay an aircraft already in flight while keeping it within a specified airspace; i.e. "going in circles." Implementation A holding pattern for instrument flight rules (IFR) a ...

to attempt to resolve the problem. The crew decided to fly near the ATC tower to have a controller visually identify any problem. It was found that after attempting to gravity drop the left main landing gear, that it was stuck in a partially deployed position. The crew tried to complete several manoeuvres to free the landing gear without success. The crew had planned to touch the runway with the right main landing gear and immediately go around, hoping to shake the landing gear into a locked position but this was not attempted. When the crew realized that it was impossible to deploy the left main landing gear, the passengers and airport were prepared for an

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

. At 16:08 with the aircraft nearly out of fuel, a "

Mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiz ...

" was declared. The crew chose to land the plane on runway 27L, believing the lopsided aircraft would turn away from airport facilities once on the ground and towards empty space. As the aircraft touched down, engine 4 struck the runway and the right main landing gear tyres burst. Soon after, engines 1 and 2 also struck the ground, bursting into flames. Once the aircraft veered to the left and stopped passengers were evacuated, seven of which suffered minor injuries.

Cause

The accident was caused by the following factors: * Full deployment of the left main landing gear was prevented because the unrestrained end of the No. 6 brake torque rod became trapped in the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

beam structure within the gear bay. It jammed the landing gear in a partially deployed position. * The torque pin that had connected the No. 6 brake torque rod to the wheel brake had disengaged during landing gear retraction after takeoff from Los Angeles, allowing the unrestrained rod to pivot freely about the retained end. * The torque pin and its retaining assembly had been subject to higher axial and torsional loads than predicted during aircraft braking in service. These loads were the result of

elastic deformation In engineering, deformation (the change in size or shape of an object) may be ''elastic'' or ''plastic''. If the deformation is negligible, the object is said to be ''rigid''. Main concepts Occurrence of deformation in engineering application ...

of the wheel

axle An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotation, rotating wheel and axle, wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In ...

brake A brake is a machine, mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for Acceleration, slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of ...

, and torque rod, and due to assembly without the correct axial clearance as a result of prior undetected displacement of the associated bushes. The precise mode of failure of the retaining assembly bolt, nut, and cotter, could not be ascertained in the absence of these parts. * This design of wheel brake assembly had satisfactorily passed the related wheel brake structural torque test. However, the latter contained no requirement to use a representative axle or other means to reproduce the axle deflections which occur during aircraft braking in service. As a result, the inspection did not require post torque test strip assessment of brake assemblies, in turn resulted in an over stressing deformation which produced component failure.

Aftermath

The aircraft sustained considerable damage, including to three engines and the landing gear. Runway 27L was damaged after the tyres burst.

References

External links

Final ReportArchive

AppendicesArchive
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom in the 1990s 1997 disasters in the United Kingdom 1997 in London Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure Aviation accidents and incidents in England Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A340 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1997 Airliner accidents and incidents involving belly landings November 1997 in the United Kingdom Virgin Atlantic accidents and incidents