Watch troubled U.S.-bound Virgin Atlantic flight make emergency landing

(Image credit: AP/YouTube)

last updated 8 January 2015

A Virgin Atlantic 747 flying from London's Gatwick airport to Las Vegas had to turn around a few hours after takeoff after what Virgin described as "a technical issue with one of the landing gears." This is what that looked like from the ground, as flight VS43 circled low over southwest England:

The plane landed safely back at Gatwick, which closed all its runways to accommodate the emergency landing, delaying flights and diverting landing aircraft to other airports in the area. Speaking to the BBC, passenger Mike Kaufman praised the crew and pilots: "This was one of the greatest emergency landings in history. It was very smooth." You can watch the "non-standard landing procedure" below. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.