Air ambulance helicopter lands on Heathrow runway, forcing go-around
A medical helicopter made an unscheduled landing on Heathrow's Runway 27R, prompting a China Southern Boeing 787-9 on final approach to abort its landing. The runway was cleared minutes later and normal operations resumed.
A helicopter operated for London's Air Ambulance charity landed without prior clearance on Runway 27R at Heathrow Airport on Sunday afternoon, briefly halting arrivals at the dual-runway hub.
The aircraft, an Airbus Helicopters H135 registered G-LAAB, was flying from the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel when it touched down in the middle of the arrival strip at about 4:15 PM local time, according to an account of the sequence.
A China Southern Airlines Boeing 787-9, operating flight CZ307 from Wuhan, was on short final at the time. Controllers instructed the crew to go around, and the widebody climbed away from the approach path at roughly 350 feet above ground level before entering a holding pattern for another attempt.
The helicopter taxied clear of the runway a few minutes after landing and moved to Stand B32 near Terminal 5. The runway was then reopened and arrivals returned to normal.
Landings by the air ambulance on an active Heathrow runway are unusual. The nature of the medical emergency that brought the helicopter to the airport was not immediately disclosed.
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Sources
- airlive.netLondon HEMS helicopter just landed in middle of runway 27R at Heathrow causing go arounds