Photos: Virgin Boeing 747 lands safely at Gatwick Airport after developing landing gear fault TODAY

Lord have mercy!

Airplane issue again....God please take control....
A transatlantic flight to Las Vegas was forced to make a dramatic landing at Gatwick this afternoon after it developed a technical fault with its landing gear.

The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 with up to 400 people on board circled the airport for several hours and made several low-altitude passes before touching down at 3.45pm.

The jet appeared to be flying with only three quarters of its landing gear down after a set of wheels on the starboard wing refused to drop, but the pilot still managed to land it safely.

The plane had to turn back towards London over the Devon coast less than 30 minutes after taking off  for America at just before midday today. 

The Boeing 747 circled the airport for several hours in order to burn off fuel before it attempted the risky landing. 

The jet landed at Gatwick at 3.45pm today and is stood on the runway surrounded by the emergency services.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: 'We can confirm that flight VS43 has landed safely back at Gatwick. Our priority now is to look after our passengers and crew'.

Before it landed the plane made at least one low-level pass over the London Gatwick so engineers could observe the problem. 

Others who saw the jet circling around the airport said the pilot was 'tipping the wings' to try to use gravity to drop down the final part of the landing gear. 

Ambulances and fire-and-rescue crews had been on standby as the plane circled the airport in the hours after it took off for America in late morning.

Before the successful landing, Virgin announced that the plane would be carrying out a 'non-standard landing procedure' at Gatwick airport.

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: 'We can confirm that Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 which departed Gatwick Airport at around 11.45am is returning to Gatwick after the aircraft developed a technical fault. 

'In line with standard procedure, emergency services are on standby at the airport purely as a precaution.'