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| Date: | Monday 9 December 1996 |
| Time: | 00:15 |
| Type: |  Boeing 747-238B |
| Owner/operator: | Virgin Atlantic Airways |
| Registration: | G-VJFK |
| MSN: | 20842/238 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1974 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 362 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor, repaired |
| Location: | Near New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK) -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK) |
| London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The aircraft left John F Kennedy Airport (JFK), New York, shortly after 1900 hrs local time.
Departing from Runway 31L, the aircraft was at a height of 300 feet and an airspeed of 172 kt
when the crew noted that the R WING ESCAPE DR caption had illuminated on the Flight
Engineer's panel. This caption denotes unlatching of the compartment door for the right-hand 'off-
wing' escape slide, which is operated, in an emergency, by a cable from the overwing Passenger
Door 3. The crew report that they carried out the appropriate check list and continued the flight
with no noise or vibration noticed. The caption remained on throughout the flight and the aircraft
made a normal landing at London Heathrow Airport.
At London the right hand off-wing escape slide was found to have deployed and separated from the
aircraft, leaving the slide compartment door itself intact but open. A request was made to the
authorities at JFK Airport to locate the missing escape slide but it was not recovered.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f628ed915d13740005a7/dft_avsafety_pdf_501376.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/5945182 (Photo)
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 5 November 1993 | G-VJFK | Virgin Atlantic Airways | 0 | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) |  |
sub |
| 28 April 1996 | G-VJFK | Virgin Atlantic Airways | 0 | over Poyle | |
min |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Apr-2025 14:02 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 13-Apr-2025 14:03 | ASN | Updated [Accident report, ] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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