Virgin Atlantic Pilot Does His/Her Job Well!(W/Image Of Gear Issue)

"Leon711" (leon711)
12/29/2014 at 11:04 • Filed to: Virgin Atlantic, Boeing, 747-400, Gatwick

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Virgin flight VS43 from London Gatwick (LGW) to McCarran international (LAS) had a gear malfunction on shortly after take off at 11.45 GMT and I was about to write more about then it turns out it's just landed safely at LGW after 4 hours circling above my head at circa 5000ft. Details are few and far between but thanks lies with the skill of the pilots.

Thankfully we didn't have another plane disaster, especially after recent events.

VS43 is a 747-400 flying with the registration G-VROM

an image of the gear from @aircrafttalking on twitter

and it's flight path since it took off, including fuel burning.

DISCUSSION (7)

OPPOsaurus WRX > Leon711
12/29/2014 at 11:32

that must be long 4 hours. folks this is your captain speaking, eh, we got a problem, eh, we're gunna burn off all our fuel so if the situation, eh, doesn;t go well the fireball isn't quite as, eh massive. so have a drink on us, eh, we may have a slight bump as we land. Thank you for choosing Virgin Atlantic

Takuro Spirit > Leon711
12/29/2014 at 11:34

14 wheels bad?

Leon711 > OPPOsaurus WRX
12/29/2014 at 11:36

Drinks are free on Virgin Atlantic anyway! what they got was a tour of the south of England, from Devon and Cornwall in the the west across Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and just into Kent before circling the small Port of Newhaven and a land back at Gatwick.

Leon711 > Takuro Spirit
12/29/2014 at 11:36

18 Wheels good!

Chris Clarke > Leon711
12/29/2014 at 12:30

Cool, could you shoot me an email shiftsandgiggles@gmail.com?

Dusty Ventures > Leon711
12/29/2014 at 14:47

After a little poking around Aviation-Safety.net it looks like this is around the 23rd landing gear failure this year. Fortunately none have resulted in so much as a single fatality.

Leon711 > Chris Clarke
12/29/2014 at 17:25

I most certainly can.