Jet misses runway at Gatwick
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a jet carrying 95 people missed the runway at Gatwick airport and landed on a taxi-ing area, writes Marianne Macdonald. The consequences could have been disastrous had there been another aircraft on the taxi-way.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is now studying the incident, which involved a Boeing 737 arriving from Malta at 9.15pm on Wednesday.
A Gatwick spokeswoman said the Air Malta flight had been asked to touch down on an emergency runway because the main runway had been closed so that markings could be repainted.
Instead, the Boeing landed on the taxi-way, about 200ft from the terminal building. The jet landed safely.
The spokeswoman said the main runway, emergency runway and taxi-way ran parallel to each other at right-angles to the terminal building.
The runways were distinguished from each other for safety. The main runway was darkened because it was out of service, the alternative runway had full landing lights and the taxi-way was lit with green lights.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments