British Airways jet seconds from disaster over London after pilot blunder in one of ‘most serious near misses in years’

Credit: Alamy A BRITISH Airways jet was “seconds from disaster” after stalling when a pilot blundered above London at around 4,000ft, it has been revealed. Sources said the first officer’s error required a physical intervention by the captain as the Airbus A320 was on its approach to Heathrow. They called it: “The most serious ‘near miss’ in the UK in years”. The drama on Flight BA919 from Dusseldorf took place above Canary Wharf on July 6. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! The Sun understands that one of the aircraft’s air data systems had failed on it. It is said the jet suffered a stall and the captain had to step in to overide the first officer’s initial input to try and remedy the problem. Read more on British Airways A source said: “To recover from this position is difficult, especially so low to the ground. “It is unheard of for a captain to physically intervene in the cockpit.” Senior figures acknowledged there was almost a “hull loss” — the aviation term for when an aircraft is destroyed or seriously damaged. The captain is now understood to be grounded on “stress leave”. Most read in The Sun The incident has been listed as “Loss of Control In-flight” and branded as “Pilot Induced”. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has launched a probe into the “serious incident”. BA said it was assisting the investigation and the Civil Aviation Authority said it could not comment on an ongoing review. Comment now