"Jets send maydays over London" story denied
As some will have seen, today's Sunday Times carries a front page story which states (first five pars):
FIVE aircraft unable to land at Heathrow and Gatwick were forced to declare emergencies, some perilously close to running out of fuel, in the latest storm to batter Britain.
Passengers on one flight circling London screamed as it was tossed around like a “paper plane” by 60mph winds at the height of Friday night’s storm.
Aircraft unable to land at airports in the southeast were diverted to Manchester, where they were met by emergency crews.
Airline sources say four diverted jets made “mayday” distress calls, the most serious state of emergency. Three believed they were running out of reserve fuel and one, an American Airlines jet, had a problem with its rudder.
A BA flight from Moscow to Heathrow with 143 passengers on board declared a lower level emergency. Its pilot aborted one landing as it was hit by a strong gust of wind only 30 feet from the runway.
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Heathrow Airport subsequently issued this statement today:
"The story in the Sunday Times is untrue. There were no mayday or distress calls received at Heathrow. Due to high cross winds some aircraft were diverted to other UK airports that have spare runway capacity."
While the Metro (online) report today on a BA flight from Moscow diverted from Heathrow to Manchester on Friday night, includes this:
British Airways said: "All planes last night were low on fuel but we had more than enough to get to Manchester. We understand other [operators’] aircraft were on mayday."
So can we presume the Heathrow statement is definitive, the BA spokesperson understood wrongly and the Sunday Times has, indeed, printed an incorrect story on its front page?