British Airways Flight 649

A British Airways A350-1000, similar to the one involved in the accident

## Introduction

British Airways Flight 649 (often referred to as the Stalling Jet) was a passenger flight from Amsterdam to London. The plane made an emergency landing in Regent's Park after both of it's engines failed.

## Pilots

Captain Evan Blakely and First Officer Mark Hobbs made the skilful landing in Regent's Park, and both were awarded after the incident.

## The Incident

Flight 649 is preparing to land at London Heathrow. The flight is coming in from the right of London, and the River Thames is visible to the left of the flight. Then, alarms begin to sound in the cockpit. First Officer Hobbs discovers that both engines on the jet have failed, and immediately gets a checklist to try and get the engines running again. Captain Blakely checks through the systems and attempts to restart the engines, but they still don't start. They try again with no success and realise they're going to have to land this plane with no engines.

The plane is flying nearby Tower Bridge, and the pilots know they won't make it to Heathrow. They consider a landing at London City, but they realise they won't be in the air long enough to make it. They will have to land somewhere else, and that somewhere is not an airport. They begin to look around for other places to land, and Captain Blakely suggests that they land in the Thames if they can't find anywhere. But First Officer Hobbs spots Regent's Park in the distance. They decide that the park is their best option, and begin to line themselves up with the grass. As they descend, they try to restart their engines twice, but still no luck. But whilst this is going on, Captain Blakely realises something. Regent's Park is too short for the plane to successfully land on, and beyond the park was a set of flats. If they landed in the park, there would be an ensuing fire and many would be killed. So Blakely comes up with an alternate plan. It was one that could fail, one that could kill people, and one that might not work. He decides they need to stall onto Regent's Park.

To land safely in Regent's Park, the flight needs slow to below stall speed. What this means is that the flight is only able to land if it goes below the speed that keeps the plane airborne. He confers with First Officer about the ordeal, and eventually come to the conclusion that it's the best way out. Captain Blakely addresses the issue to the passengers, and prepares for the landing. Blakely extends the spoilers on his plane while still in the air, something that had brought down a flight before. He manages to get the plane to just above the stall speed, and tells the passengers to brace for impact. He then lifts the nose up, leading to the plane stalling.

The plane drops down, and the tail hits a tree at the edge of the stretch of grass. This pushes the nose down, resulting in damage on the front gear. The Captain then activates his spoilers, thrust reversers and gear brakes at once, as he tries desperately to stop the plane. Visitors of the park clear out of the way of the plane, and none on the ground are injured. The damaged front landing gear, with extreme pressure now placed on it, collapses, resulting in the plane falling forward slightly. The plane continues to plow through the park, but is slowing fast. The wing of the plane just misses the nearby cafe, and the plane slows to a stop, just 53 metres from the edge of the park.

Passengers begin to applaud the flight crew for getting them down safely, but not without injuries. 38 of the 317 passengers and crew were injured during the landing, and they were all sustained due to the stall performed on the flight. Ambulances soon arrived on the scene, followed shortly by news reporters. The landing was famous enough to interrupt TV on all BBC channels, and a report was given on the known facts to do with this miraculous landing. All the people who were hospitalised after the landing quickly recovered, including First Officer Hobbs. But why did the two engines just stop mid-flight?

## Cause and Aftermath

It was quickly found that the cause was due to a birdstrike that the pilots didn't notice. The plane was soon repaired and put back into service, and both pilots were awarded for their quick thinking in such a harsh situation. During the investigation, they also retrieved the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and transcript can be seen below.

## CVR Transcript

C - Captain Evan Blakely

O - First Officer Mark Hobbs

S - System/Plane Alerts

A - Air Traffic Control

14:50:07 C - This view never gets old. You've got London laid out in front of you.

14:50:12 O - Yep, it's a real nice view. Now, should we go through the final checks?

14:50:17 C - Sounds good.

14:50:19 O - Right let me just grab i-

14:50:20 \*small booming sound followed by spluttering of the engines\*

14:50:22 S - Alarm begins to sound (continues until 14:50:33)

14:50:22 C - What was that?

14:50:24 O - Oh jeez.

14:50:25 C - What?

14:50:27 O - We've lost both engines.

14:50:29 C - OK, get the engine restart checklist!

14:50:32 O - Got it.

14:50:34 O - Thrust levers.

14:50:35 C - Set.

14:50:36 O - Auto-throttle.

14:50:38 C - Disengaged.

14:50:40 O - Speed.

14:50:42 C - Check.

14:50:44 O - Altitude.

14:50:45 C - Check.

14:50:46 O - Attempting restart.

14:50:49 C - Nothing; let's try again.

14:50:34 O - Thrust levers.

14:50:35 C - Set.

14:50:36 O - Auto-throttle.

14:50:38 C - Disengaged.

14:50:40 O - Speed.

14:50:42 C - Check.

14:50:44 O - Altitude.

14:50:45 C - Check.

14:50:46 O - Attempting restart.

14:50:50 C - Right, still nothing. Let's see where we can land.

14:50:54 O - OK, right. We definitely can't get to Heathrow, what about City?

14:50:58 C - No, City's too far away.

14:51:00 O - OK, lets get looking for a good location.

14:51:03 C - If we can't find anything then we'll have to go in the Thames.

14:51:06 C - Tower this is SPEEDBIRD 649 we've lost both engines, we'd like to declare an emergency. We're looking for somewhere to land as we speak.

14:51:10 A - SPEEDBIRD 649 emergency declared, can you make it to any airport?

14:51:14 O - There, look!

14:51:15 C - Where?

14:51:16: O - There, Regent's Park!

14:51:18 C - Yes, that's perfect.

14:51:20 C - SPEEDBIRD 649 No, we cannot make it to any airport. We are going to try and land in Regent's Park.

14:51:26 A - SPEEDBIRD 649, copy. Sending emergency services to Regent's Park.

14:51:29 C - SPEEDBIRD 649 Roger that.

14:51:31 O - Right, lets get ourselves lined up.

14:51:44 C - OK, let's try to get our engines back.

14:51:46 O - Thrust levers.

14:51:47 C - Set.

14:51:48 O - Auto-throttle.

14:51:50 C - Disengaged.

14:51:51 O - Speed.

14:51:52 C - Check.

14:51:54 O - Altitude.

14:51:55 C - Check.

14:51:56 O - Attempting restart.

14:51:00 C - One more try.

14:52:02 O - Thrust levers.

14:52:03 C - Set.

14:52:04 O - Auto-throttle.

14:52:06 C - Disengaged.

14:52:07 O - Speed.

14:52:08 C - Check.

14:52:10 O - Altitude.

14:52:11 C - Check.

14:52:12 O - Attempting restart.

14:52:15 C - Nothing. Let's try and land it now.

14:52:17 O - \*exhales\* Yep.

14:52:20 C - Wait...

14:52:21 O - What?

14:52:23 C - We're not gonna make it. Regent's Park isn't long enough. We're gonna have to stall.

14:52:28 O - To stall?!

14:52:30 C - That or we hit those flats.

14:52:32 O - S\*\*t, you're right.

14:52:34 C - Right, if we want to land this thing we're gonna have to go below stall speed. So lets activate the spoilers now and get down to just above stall speed, then stall the plane as we land.

14:52:38 O - I'll do that, you can address the issue to the passengers.

14:52:40 C - Good point, I'll do that now. \*over tannoy\* Ladies and gentlemen I regret to inform you that we have lost both engines on the plane. We are now going to make an emergency landing in Regent's Park, and it is recommended that you get in the brace position now.

14:52:49 S - 'Low speed, terrain, terrain, pull up' (repeats until 14:52:59)

14:52:50 O - Right, we're at stall speed.

14:52:52 C - OK, I'm going to lift the nose up in three, two one. \*over tannoy\* Brace, brace!

14:52:56 S - 'Stall, Stall'

14:52:57 C - Here it comes!

14:52:58 \*quiet thump followed by extremely loud thump\*

14:53:00 C - Holy f\*\*k! Full brakes, spoilers, thrust reversers, everything!

14:53:03 O - Oh jesus!

14:53:05 C - It's around now that I wish we had horns on planes.

14:53:07 O - \*chuckles\* Yeah.

14:53:08 \*Clanking sound followed shortly by thump. This is the front gear collapsing.\*

14:53:09 C - Come on, stop!

14:53:11 O - We're slowing!

14:53:14 C - 100 knots.

14:53:16 C - 75 knots.

14:53:18 C - 50 knots!

14:53:19 O - F\*\*k, the cafe!

14:53:21 C - Oh god no!

14:53:23 O - We missed it!

14:53:25 C - We're stopping!

14:53:30 O - Oh my god.

14:53:32 C - We stopped!

14:53:34 O - Ha, ha!

14:53:35 C - We did it!

14:53:36 O - Holy, I was frightened to death there!

14:53:38 C - \*over tannoy\* Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking, we have stopped in Regent's Park, please begin evacuating the plane.

14:53:40 \*Applause from the cabin\*