Last week, a British Airways Boeing 777-300ER experienced a bird strike when they landed in Lagos, Nigeria. The multiple collisions led to problems such as a hydraulic leak, which caused smoke to come out of the landing gear of the aircraft. However, it was said that the response from emergency services was fairly slow.
The flight in question
British Airways flight BA75 is a regular service from its London Heathrow base to Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Nigeria. The British flag carrier operates this flight daily, with a scheduled departure of 11:05 local time. Arrival in Nigeria (and indeed Africa)’s most populous city is expected to take place just over six-and-a-half hours later, at 18:40 local time.
BA operates this flight with both the -200ER and -300ER variants of the Boeing 777. The British airline Virgin Atlantic offers competition on the route. The cargo operations of Ethiopian Airlines Cargo are also present along this corridor.
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What happened?
FlightRadar24.com reports that flight BA75 left London for more than an hour on 30 December. The take-off from Heathrow’s runway 27R took place at 12:21 local time, about 86 minutes behind schedule. However, the flight could take up good time at the right time. It did indeed hit Nigeria in just half an hour, at 19:10 local time, after five hours and 50 minutes in the air.
However, this does not mean that the flight was without incident. According to The Aviation Herald, the plane experienced several bird attacks during the landing screen to Lagos’ longest runway, 18R. This led to a hydraulic leak. Fortunately, the crew was able to land the plane safely and evacuate the runway as planned.
As he drove from the runway to his stand, the plane lost its nose wheel steering. There was also a problem with the main landing gear, with smoke emanating from it. Furthermore, the aircraft’s hydraulic C system did not indicate any quantity. This meant that the hydraulic fluid was completely drained.
Following these issues, the crew chose to stop the plane on the taxiway and declare PAN PAN over the radio. Despite the attempt to make contact several times, there was initially no response from the emergency services.
Finally, two minutes after landing, two firefighters boarded the plane on foot with hand extinguishers. They were followed five minutes later by a larger fire truck. It was then determined that the smoke emanating from the landing gear was caused by hydraulic fluid dripping onto the brakes of the aircraft. After we had just landed, it was very hot.
The aircraft in question
The aircraft that experienced the bird strike was a Boeing 777-300ER, with the registration G-STBE. According to Planespotters.net, British Airways took over this aircraft in December 2011. It is one of the 14 777-300ERs in BA’s fleet, along with 43 examples of the smaller -200ER variant. SeatGuru reports that the 777-300ER has a four-class setup at British Airways. It consists of 14 first open suites, 56 Club World flat beds, 44 World Traveler Plus seats and 185 standard World Traveler seats.
After temporary repairs to the plane, FlightRadar24.com reports that the plane left Lagos for London at 05:03 local time the next morning. Touch at Heathrow took place just over five hours around 9:59 p.m. G-STBE still has to return to service after its flight.
What do you make of this incident? Have you ever been on a plane that was involved in a bird strike? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.