British Airways Flight 38 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, to Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom, an 8,100-kilometre (4,400 nmi; 5,000 mi) trip. On 17 January 2008, the Boeing 777 aircraft crash-landed short of runway 27L at Heathrow. Of the 152 people on board, 47 were injured, 1 of them seriously. The aircraft (registered as G-YMMM) sustained heavy damage and was written off as a result, becoming the first hull loss of a Boeing 777.
The accident was investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and their final report was issued in February 2010. Ice crystals in the jet fuel were blamed as the cause of the accident, clogging the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) of each engine. This restricted fuel flow to the engines when thrust was demanded during the final approach to Heathrow. The AAIB identified this rare problem as specific to Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engine FOHEs. Rolls-Royce developed a modification to the FOHE; the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) mandated all affected aircraft to be fitted with the modification before 1 January 2011. The US Federal Aviation Administration noted a similar incident occurring on an Airbus A330 fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and ordered an airworthiness directive to be issued, mandating the redesign of the FOHE in Rolls-Royce Trent 500, 700, and 800 engines.
Background
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 777-236ER, registered as G-YMMM, with serial number 30314 and line number 342. It was built and delivered to British Airways in the spring of 2001 and powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 895-17 engines and had a seating capacity of 233 passengers. On board, there were 16 crew members and 136 passengers.
Crew
The crew consisted of Captain Peter Burkill (43), Senior First Officer John Coward (41), First Officer Conor Magenis (35), and 13 cabin crew members. The captain had logged 12,700 total flight hours, with 8,450 in Boeing 777 aircraft. The senior first officer had logged 9,000 total flight hours, with 7,000 in Boeing 777 aircraft. The first officer had logged 5,000 total flight hours, with 1,120 in Boeing 777 aircraft.
Accident
Flight 38 departed from Beijing at 02:09 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), flying a route that crossed Mongolia, Siberia, and Scandinavia, at altitudes between flight level 348 and 400—approximately 34,800 and 40,000 feet (10,600 and 12,200 m), and in temperatures between −74 °C (−101 °F) and −65 °C (−85 °F); the total air temperature has been estimated around −37 °C (−35 °F). Aware of the cold conditions outside, the crew monitored the temperature of the fuel, with the intention of descending to a lower and warmer level if any danger of the fuel freezing arose.
This did not prove necessary, as the fuel temperature never dropped below −34 °C (−29 °F), still well above its freezing point.
Although the fuel itself did not freeze, small quantities of water in the fuel did.
Ice adhered to the inside of the fuel lines, probably where they ran through the pylons attaching the engines to the wings.
This accumulation of ice had no effect on the flight until the final stages of the approach into Heathrow, when increased fuel flow and higher temperatures suddenly released it back into the fuel. This formed a slush of soft ice that flowed forward until it reached the fuel/oil heat exchangers (FOHEs) where it froze once again, causing a restriction in the flow of fuel to the engines.
The first symptoms of the fuel-flow restriction were noticed by the flight crew at an altitude of 720 feet (220 m) and 2 miles (3.2 km) from touchdown, when the engines repeatedly failed to respond to a demand for increased thrust from the autothrottle. In attempting to maintain the instrument landing system glide slope, the autopilot sacrificed speed, which reduced to 108 knots (200 km/h; 124 mph) at 200 feet (61 m). The autopilot disconnected at 150 feet (46 m), as the first officer took manual control. Meanwhile, the captain reduced the flap setting from 30 to 25° to decrease the drag on the aircraft and stretch the glide.
At 12:42, the 777 passed just above the residential street of Myrtle Avenue, then immediately after overflew traffic on the A30 and the airport's Southern Perimeter road and landed on the grass about 270 metres (890 ft) short of runway 27L. The captain declared an emergency to air traffic control a few seconds before landing. The decision to raise the flaps allowed the plane to glide beyond the ILS beacon within the airport perimeter, thus avoiding more substantial damage.
During the impact and short slide over the ground, the nose gear collapsed rearward, the right main gear broke off and fully separated from the aircraft, puncturing the central fuel tank and penetrating the passenger oxygen supply, causing a major fuel leak and the release of oxygen gas from adjacent compartments. The right main landing gear also penetrated the cabin space, causing the sole serious injury in this accident to a passenger in seat 30K before striking the right-hand horizontal stabiliser's leading edge. The left main gear was pushed up through the wing root, as it was designed to do in case of failure due to excessive vertical load. The aircraft came to rest on the threshold markings at the start of the runway. 6,750 kg (14,880 lb) of fuel leaked, but no fire started. One passenger received serious injuries (concussion and a broken leg), and four crew members and eight passengers received minor injuries.
Aftermath
The London Ambulance Service stated that three fast response cars, nine ambulances, and several officers were sent to the scene to assess the casualties. Those injured were taken to the nearby Hillingdon Hospital.
Willie Walsh, the British Airways chief executive, released a statement praising the actions of the "flight and cabin crew [who] did a magnificent job and safely evacuated all of the 136 passengers ... The captain of the aircraft is one of our most experienced and has been flying with us for nearly 20 years. Our crews are trained to deal with these situations." He also praised the fire, ambulance, and police services.
All flights in and out of Heathrow were halted for a short time after the accident. When operations resumed, many long-haul outbound flights were either delayed or cancelled, and all short-haul flights were cancelled for the rest of the day. Some inbound flights were delayed, and 24 flights were diverted to Gatwick, Luton, or Stansted. In an attempt to minimise further travel disruptions, Heathrow Airport received dispensation from the Department for Transport to operate some night flights. Even so, the following day (18 January), 113 short-haul flights were cancelled because crews and aircraft were out of position.
On the afternoon of 20 January 2008, the severely damaged aircraft and its wreckage (landing gears, fan blades, engine casings) were removed from the crash site by rescue, recovery workers and ground crews.
It was held up by a multitude of hydraulic jacks, lifted by cranes, lowered onto remote-controlled, wheeled long flatbed platforms, towed off the runway and then brought over to the BA maintenance area, parked on the apron just outside of a nearby hangar, where it stayed derelict for storage while the AAIB investigation concluded, in case if they needed the hull for tests, 500 metres from the crash site. The tail fin was dismantled and removed as it was rocking the hull on gusty days, placed onto the ground and painted white, in addition to the identifying marking and livery titles painted over as the top-half of the fuselage was barely visible over the surrounding fencing. After assessment of the damage and repair costs, the aircraft was deemed to be damaged beyond economic repair (despite still being largely intact) and written off by the insurers in the summer of 2008, becoming the first Boeing 777 hull loss in history. The hull of G-YMMM was cut up into three pieces, and in the early spring of 2009, a year after the incident, the plane was trucked out of Heathrow to the scrapyard, where it was broken up and scrapped. The dismantling and disposal was handled by Air Salvage International, based in Kemble.
During a press conference the day after the accident, Captain Peter Burkill said that he would not be publicly commenting on the cause of the incident while the AAIB investigation was in progress. He revealed that Senior First Officer John Coward was flying the aircraft, and that First Officer Conor Magenis was also present on the flight deck at the time of the accident. Coward was more forthcoming in a later interview, stating: "As the final approach started I became aware that there was no power ... suddenly there was nothing from any of the engines, and the plane started to glide."
Burkill and Coward were grounded for a month following the crash while they were assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder. Five months after the accident, Burkill flew again, taking charge of a flight to Montréal–Trudeau International Airport. He remained "haunted" by the incident, and took voluntary redundancy from British Airways in August 2009. Burkill subsequently established a blog and wrote a book, Thirty Seconds to Impact, that denounced BA's treatment of the situation following the crash. In November 2010, Burkill rejoined British Airways, stating, "I am delighted that the discussions with British Airways, have come to a mutually, happy conclusion. In my opinion, British Airways is the pinnacle of any pilot's career, and it is my honour and privilege to be returning to an airline that I joined as a young man."
All 16 crew were awarded the BA Safety Medal for their performance during the accident. The medal is British Airways' highest honour. On 11 December 2008 the crew received the President's Award from the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Until March 2024, British Airways continued to use the flight 38 designation on its Beijing to Heathrow route, before suspending the service in October 2024.
Initial speculations
Mechanical engine failure was not regarded as a likely cause given the very low probability of a simultaneous dual engine failure. An electronic or software glitch in the computerised engine-control systems was suggested as possible causes of the simultaneous loss of power on both engines. Both engine and computer problems were ruled out by the findings of the February Special Bulletin.
Some speculation indicated that radio interference from Prime Minister Gordon Brown's motorcade, which was leaving Heathrow after dropping the Prime Minister off for a flight to China, was responsible for the accident. This interference was also eliminated as a cause.
Initial analysis from David Learmount, a Flight International editor, was that "The aircraft had either a total or severe power loss and this occurred very late in the final approach because the pilot did not have time to tell air traffic control or passengers." Learmount went on to say that to land in just 350–400 metres (1,150–1,310 ft), the aircraft must have been near stalling when it touched down. The captain also reported the aircraft's stall warning system had sounded.
A METAR issued twenty minutes before the crash indicated that the wind was forecast to gust according to ICAO criteria for wind reporting. The possibility of a bird strike was raised, but there were no sightings or radar reports of birds. Speculation had focused on electronics and fuel supply issues. A few weeks after the accident, as suspicion started to fall on the possibility of ice in the fuel, United Airlines undertook a review of their procedures for testing and draining the fuel used in their aircraft, while American Airlines considered switching to a different type of jet fuel for polar flights.
Investigation
The Department for Transport's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigated the accident, with the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce also participating. The investigation took two years to complete, and the AAIB published its final report on 9 February 2010. Three preliminary reports and 18 safety recommendations were issued during the course of the investigation.
The flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), along with the quick access recorder (QAR), were recovered from the aircraft within hours of the accident, and they were transported to the AAIB's Farnborough headquarters, some 30 miles (48 km) from Heathrow. The information downloaded from these devices confirmed what the crew had already told the investigators, that the engines had not responded when the throttles were advanced during final approach.