Heathrow Airport runways closed after plane 'fire'

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Apparently the crew had practiced such an emergency every six months for over 20 years without ever needing to do it till today.

And it seems to have paid off too, well done crew and all associated.

Why would both engine covers come off around the same time is a question?

That made my ears prick up too. When you hit a bird you rarely hit just one, I guess the starboard engine ingested one while the port engine took outside damage leading to the cover popping off.

Checking updates from European flow control, it really shows you the effect of, well, anything happening to Heathrow.

[Oberon]

Busy day for the UK ATC today, a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft is being escorted by Typhoons to Stansted after diverting from Manchester due to an 'incident'.

EDIT: Looks like the flight is PK709 from Lahore to Manchester, a 777-340. Judging by Flightradar24, it's on the ground now at Stansted.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Stansted is usually where hijacked a/c go*, or other terrorist incident. I'm just saying. . .

*Or used to be, there hasn't been one for many years in UK airspace, to my knowledge.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Busy day for the UK ATC today, a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft is being escorted by Typhoons to Stansted after diverting from Manchester due to an 'incident'.

EDIT: Looks like the flight is PK709 from Lahore to Manchester, a 777-340. Judging by Flightradar24, it's on the ground now at Stansted.

Apparently two British nationals (30 and 41 years old) attempted to get into the flight deck....armed police arrested them when the plane landed.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Apparently two British nationals (30 and 41 years old) attempted to get into the flight deck....armed police arrested them when the plane landed.

That doesn't bode well, still at least the cockpit is better protected now than before 9/11, well, I believe it is. I know that US aircraft were meant to put better doors and locking systems in, I presume we followed suit?

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Checking updates from European flow control, it really shows you the effect of, well, anything happening to Heathrow.

Wow, great link. Thanks.

Looks like Monaco GP weekend is causing trouble too.

[Tchocky]

Haha yeah, I'm very glad I'm not working today. So much of our traffic is for the London Group so any excessive holding for Heathrow tends to slow down everything else.