Aviation

13.5, crash landing, investigation

UK: the British Airways Boeing 777 which crash-landed at London Heathrow Airport in January had low fuel pressure at the inlet to the fuel pumps, an accident report said. The on board computers detected the reduced fuel flow between the tanks and the high-pressure pumps and instructed the metering valve to open fully, according to the interim accident report. There was no evidence of aircraft or engine control system malfunction, nor of a bird strike or engine icing. This represented the fourth report the AAIB has made into the incident and was published “in view of the sustained interest within the aviation industry and among the travelling public”. AAIB said that the focus of the investigation continued to be the fuel system of both the aircraft and the engines, to understand why neither engine responded to the demanded increase in power. Extensive full-scale engine testing was conducted at the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, and fuel system testing is ongoing at the Boeing firm in Seattle. All 16 crew and 136 passengers survived the Jan 17 crash.