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| Date: | Sunday 28 April 1996 |
| Time: | c. 13:26 LT |
| Type: |  Boeing 747-238B |
| Owner/operator: | Virgin Atlantic Airways |
| Registration: | G-VJFK |
| MSN: | 20842/238 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1974 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 326 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Incident |
| Location: | over Poyle -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The aircraft departed from Runway 27R at 1326 hrs for a flight to the USA, following a period of
some 17 days of third party contracted maintenance at London Heathrow airport. The take
off proceeded normally but during the early stages of the climb one of the cabin crew seated near
door R4 heard an unusual 'whooshing' sound. She reported what she had heard to the senior cabin
crew member who in turn reported it to the commander. At about the same time a security guard at
an airport control post and a person driving along the M25 saw an object fall from the aircraft.
Both witnesses reported their observations and the driver stated that the object had fallen 'outside' the M25. These messages were forwarded to Heathrow ATC who in turn alerted the flight crew that a
yellow colored object had fallen from the aircraft. A check of the flight deck did not reveal any
unusual warnings or anything amiss (there are two warning lights on the flight engineer's panel to
indicate off-wing slide deployment and neither was illuminated). With no other indications of
abnormality such as airframe vibration or unusual handling qualities, the commander chose to
continue the flight and await a more accurate description of the object before deciding whether to
proceed or divert. Meanwhile ATC had initiated a debris check of the runway which proved
negative.
A lorry driver in the Blackthorne Road area of Poyle (about 1nm from the end of the runway) had
also seen the object fall from the aircraft and he watched it descend; he described it as resembling a
large package and saw it fall into a tree, breaking two branches. He recovered the object onto his
lorry and reported the event by telephone to the Heathrow police at 1336 hrs. They relayed the
information to ATC that a lightweight object which appeared to be an aircraft's escape slide had
fallen in the Poyle area.
The Heathrow police contacted their colleagues in the Thames Valley force to inform them that the
object had probably landed within their operational area. Engineers from the operator, police
officers and a member of the Heathrow Airfield Operations Safety Unit then departed to locate the
object. Whilst they were en-route the commander contacted both ATC and his company by radio to
ask if the object had been identified. On hearing that it had not, he decided to continue the flight.
The object was located at 1450 hrs and positively identified at 1530 hrs by the company engineers
as the right hand side off-wingslide assembly. Positive identification reached the commander by HF
radio shortly afterwards. He discussed his options with the company staff and they asked him to
return to Heathrow to have the aircraft repaired.
At 1610 hrs ATC were informed by the operator that the flight had reached longitude 30° West and
was returning to Heathrow. Shortly before 1830 hrs the cabin crew thought they heard
another 'whooshing' noise from the vicinity of door 4L. This too was reported to the commander but
again there were no warnings of slide deploymenton the flight deck. At this point the commander
became concerned by the possibility that the left hand slide might deploy and become entangled in
the empennage; consequently, he declared an emergency and restricted the airspeed to 270 kt
maximum. The aircraft had been airborne for over five hours and there was no need to jettison fuel.
Heathrow ATC brought the emergency services to a high state of readiness for the landing and
vectored the aircraft for a straight-in ILS approach to Runway 09L. The flight crew added 5 kt to
VREF and flew a normal approach without noticing any unusual vibrations or handling
characteristics. The landing at 1855 hrs was uneventful except for a smoking brake unit noticed by
the fire service. After their inspection, which revealed that the smoke was due to extraneous grease
on the brakes, the aircraft taxied to the stand where the Passengers and crew disembarked normally.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f47be5274a131700051d/dft_avsafety_pdf_502359.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 |
| 9 December 1996 | G-VJFK | Virgin Atlantic Airways | 0 | Near New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK) |  |
min |
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 10-Aug-2025 12:31 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 10-Aug-2025 12:32 | Justanormalperson | Updated [Accident report, ] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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