Essex/Herts? Look Up!
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Damaged plane heads for airport
The plane has been diverted to Stansted Airport
A plane which has been damaged in a bird strike is preparing to make an emergency landing at Stansted Airport in Essex.
The Boeing 737 plane with 195 people on board has a damaged tail.
It has been confirmed that the airline involved is operated by Helios airways.
Flight ZU 401 took off from Luton at 1140 and was due to land at Larnaca in Cyprus at 1800.
The plane was to have made an emergency landing at Luton Airport but has now been diverted to Stanstead Airport.
The pilot intends to empty the fuel tanks before landing.
How long is it going to take to burn up a plane full of fuel?!
Only on older planes I think, the more modern planes are designed to cope with landing with a full payload, and I'm told some don't have the ability to dump fuel. I was on plane a couple of years ago that took a multiple bird strike on takeoff 
. We circled around for about 20 minutes (amazing what you think of when you're just strapped in and can't do anything) and then landed much heavier and faster than normal (plane was full of passengers, luggage and fuel). Fire engines had to blow cold air on the brakes for half an hour to cool them down so they didn't alight afterwards.
Plane had bird splattered all over the cockpit and they were picking feathers out the engine the next day when we took the next flight out on another plane.
. We circled around for about 20 minutes (amazing what you think of when you're just strapped in and can't do anything) and then landed much heavier and faster than normal (plane was full of passengers, luggage and fuel). Fire engines had to blow cold air on the brakes for half an hour to cool them down so they didn't alight afterwards. Plane had bird splattered all over the cockpit and they were picking feathers out the engine the next day when we took the next flight out on another plane.
It appears to have landed safely at stansted now:
Still wouldn't want to be on the thing though - imagine the things that'd go through your head...!
A Stansted spokesman said the pilot had been circling and burning off fuel as he chose whether to land at Stansted or Luton.
"We are being told that the plane will land here, be inspected, and then, if all is well, continue its flight," he said.
At 1400 BST the plane landed at Stansted Airport, the spokesman said.
Still wouldn't want to be on the thing though - imagine the things that'd go through your head...!
gtir said: I always thought an empty tank was more hazerdous than a full one?
Only in terms of combustibility. The vapour in an empty tank is highly combustible, but will burn for a very short time compared to a few 1,000lbs of the liquid stuff. An empty fuel tank is less likely to rupture in a crash landing too.
Andy
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