Heathrow shut: plane on fire flew over London (video)
ԱշխարհA British Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport today trailing plumes of smoke from an engine.
Both of London Heathrow Airport's runways were closed Friday morning after a British Airways plane made an emergency landing, Europe's biggest airport said.
Television footage showed smoke trailing from the aircraft while it was airborne, and British Airways later blamed a technical fault.
One of the runways was reopened short time after the closure, but passengers on resumed flights at Heathrow were being warned to expect delays of 30-60 minutes as well as 30 minutes of aircraft taxiing time.
London Fire Brigade tweeted: "One crew from Heathrow fire station is assisting Heathrow Airport's fire service with an aircraft fire. We believe the fire is now out."
The Metropolitan Police attended the emergency and tweeted: "Police at Heathrow assisted in the response to the emergency landing. It is not being treated as a terrorist incident at this time."
There was speculation that the aircraft had run into a flock of birds.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a plane 'on fire' flying over central London. They described seeing smoke billowing from the plane, with the right engine on fire.