A Virgin Atlantic plane has made a "non-standard" or emergency landing in Gatwick Airport after a technical fault with its landing gear meant it had to circle for more than three and a half hours.
Flight VS43 took off from Gatwick bound for Las Vegas at about 11:45 a.m. Monday but after detecting a technical issue with one of the landing gears it backtracked.
From the back of my camera the state of VIR43Es undercarriage on its fly. pic.twitter.com/HDWhwReMG1— Samuel Pilcher (@SamPilcher) December 29, 2014
Flight tracking websites showed it circled off the coast of southwest England before turning back to Gatwick, south of London.
Emergency services were on standby for the landing, which is standard procedure when a plane has to land with a technical problem.
We can confirm that Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 departed is returning to Gatwick after the aircraft developed a technical fault.— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) December 29, 2014
In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution.— Gatwick Airport LGW (@Gatwick_Airport) December 29, 2014
However, the plane landed safely and although emergency services were seen on the runway there was no immediate evacuation of the craft.
Eyewitnesses, according to the BBC, said the jet was flying at relatively low altitude and the pilot appeared to be trying to "shake" the landing gear down. It dumped fuel over the English Channel before it attempted the landing.
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Post by Paul Farley.
After the flight landed, passengers expressed their relief.
Thankfully landed safe I don't recommend #EmergencyLandings#SupposedToBeInLasVegas @ London… http://t.co/0rXdPNigqw— Nick Hughes (@NickHughesAW) December 29, 2014