Reported by DailyMail, the Virgin 747 had 450 passengers onboard heading to Vegas when it was returned to London to circle for several hours due to a technical short which rendered the landing gear broken. They were forced to circle at low altitude so that the landing gear could be inspected, as only 3/4 of the landing gear was down.

Virgin Pilot Lands 747 Jumbo Jet With Broken Landing Gear

Many of the passengers reportedly became very upset, rightfully so, as they were forced to assume the “brace position,” in preparation for presumably what could have been a very rough landing!

According to the article the hero pilot, “landed the jumbo jet safely with only a few on board suffering minor injuries.”

The runway was reportedly closed after this incident and no flights were taking off.

Bottom Line

I’m glad that this worked out and passengers are safe for the most part. It could have been a very serious landing but, it sounds like the pilot did a good job of skillfully landing the plane with the impaired landing gear!