British Airways A320 near-miss over London Heathrow

On 6 July, British Airways Flight BA919, an Airbus A320 operating from Dusseldorf to London Heathrow, experienced a failure of an air‑data system during its descent over east London. The aircraft entered a stall at roughly 4,000 ft, prompting the captain to physically intervene and regain control. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch opened an investigation, classifying the event as a serious “loss of control in‑flight” incident and describing it as pilot‑induced. British Airways said it is cooperating fully, while the UK Civil Aviation Authority declined to comment. The captain has been placed on stress leave and the aircraft remains grounded pending the inquiry.

The incident has been described by aviation sources as the most serious near‑miss in the UK in years, highlighting concerns about cockpit resource management and system redundancies.