Pilots get advice after BA crash

Some 136 passengers were evacuated after January's crash-landing

An aeroplane maker has issued urgent guidance to pilots after an investigation found a crash landing was probably caused by ice in its fuel.

The problem with the BA plane was revealed in Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report into the incident at Heathrow Airport on 17 January.

Boeing has issued urgent advice on how to fly the planes to minimise the formation of ice in the fuel supply.

No-one was seriously hurt when the pilots managed to land the Boeing 777.

Boeing said the new operational procedures - including revising the speed and altitude of flights - would not be noticeable to passengers.

Regulators were urged to review the safety of all passenger aircraft after the investigation's findings.

READ THE REPORT AAIB Interim report [989KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

It is likely that ice crystals built up inside the aircraft's fuel tanks as it flew at high altitudes and then blocked fuel flow to its engines as it descended to land, the inquiry found.

The Boeing 777's Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines failed to provide the required thrust as it approached Heathrow and it landed just inside the airfield's boundary fence.

The BA038 flight from Beijing to London came down 1,000ft short of the runway and the 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped without serious injury.

An aviation expert said the AAIB report had exposed a gap in engineers' knowledge and warned that other kinds of aircraft and engine could also be affected by the problem.

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Aerial video of the crash scene at Heathrow

Kieran Daly, editor of the online news service Air Transport Intelligence, said: "It is literally a one in several million chance that this happened. As ever in the aviation industry, people are being extremely cautious about this."

Boeing said it was analysing its full range of aircraft to check whether ice build-up could affect them, while rival large passenger jet manufacturer Airbus said it was studying the new report.

BA said the report had no safety recommendations specific to it, but pledged to continue co-operating fully with the inquiry.

The AAIB's final report into the incident will be published at a later date.