Sir - On 8 December, 1996, I was awaiting clearance at Heathrow when a Fokker 50 (with a known undercarriage problem) approached runway 09R (Flight International, 18-31 December, 1996, P10). The expected happened, and the left main gear collapsed. What I would like to know is:
why was this aircraft allowed to make an approach to the world's busiest international airport?
why did it take so long to clear the runway after the aircraft came to rest?
was there no suitable runway available in London where the disruption to the normal flow of traffic would not have been so great?
Is not hindsight wonderful?
N MALLE
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Source: Flight International
