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| Virgin Atlantic flight carries out 'non-standard' landing | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Virgin Atlantic passenger plane has carried out a "non-standard landing" at Gatwick airport after "a technical issue with one of the landing gears". | |
| Virgin had said flight VS43 travelling from Gatwick to Las Vegas had to return to the West Sussex airport. | |
| The aircraft circled repeatedly between Gatwick and the south coast of England apparently to burn off fuel. | The aircraft circled repeatedly between Gatwick and the south coast of England apparently to burn off fuel. |
| The plane is a Boeing 747. Airport emergency services were on the runway. | |
| A Virgin spokesman said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that flight VS43 on December 29, travelling to McCarran International Airport Las Vegas, returned to Gatwick due to a technical issue with one of the landing gears. | A Virgin spokesman said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that flight VS43 on December 29, travelling to McCarran International Airport Las Vegas, returned to Gatwick due to a technical issue with one of the landing gears. |
| "The aircraft is preparing to implement a non-standard landing procedure at Gatwick airport. A further update will be issued as soon as possible." | "The aircraft is preparing to implement a non-standard landing procedure at Gatwick airport. A further update will be issued as soon as possible." |
| Gatwick confirmed there was "a Virgin Atlantic aircraft looking to return to Gatwick." | |
| A spokesman said: "We can confirm that Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 which departed Gatwick Airport at around 11.45am is returning to Gatwick after the aircraft developed a technical fault. | |
| "In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution." | "In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution." |
| East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was at the scene. | |
| Eyewitnesses reported the jet was flying at relatively low altitude and the pilot appeared to be trying to "shake" the landing gear down. | |
| People were tracking the seemingly erratic movements of the plane in real time via smartphone apps like FlightRadar24, which collects radar data. Its website was down because of the volume of users. | |
| Those in the south of the UK who could see the plane circling from the ground were sharing pictures of it, including images of the damaged landing gear on social media networks. The hashtag #VS43 - the number of the flight - was trending on Twitter. | |
| Are you, or is someone you know, affected by this story? Are you in the Gatwick area? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with any information. Please leave a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist. | |
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