British Airways Boeing 777 crash-lands in London, 19 hurt

[gateley]

LONDON — A British Airways jet from Beijing carrying 152 people crash-landed Thursday, injuring 19 people and causing more than 200 flights to be canceled at Europe's busiest airport.

Investigators will speak to the pilots and study the plane's flight data recorder and maintenance records to determine what caused the crash-landing at Heathrow airport, tearing the plane's underbelly and damaging its wings.

Nothing suggested it was terror-related, Scotland Yard said.

Timothy Crowch, an aviation analyst with 35 years of experience as a commercial pilot, said the landing gear punched through both wings, indicating a "massive vertical impact." That suggests a total loss of engine power may have been the cause, he said.

Robert Cullemore of Aviation Economics, a London-based aviation consultancy, said the pilot kept the plane in the air long enough to prevent a disaster.

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