A British Airways Airbus A320 on Flight BA919 reportedly stalled at around 4,000ft over Canary Wharf on July 6 while approaching Heathrow. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has opened a probe into the incident, which was described as a serious near miss.
The flight had come from Dusseldorf, and one source called it “the most serious ‘near miss’ in the UK in years”. The same source said, “To recover from this position is difficult, especially so low to the ground.”
Flight BA919 over London
The reported sequence matters because it places the aircraft low over London, on approach to Heathrow, when the stall occurred. The source also said, “It is unheard of for a captain to physically intervene in the cockpit.”
That account says the captain had to step in after the first officer’s attempt to fix the problem failed. The article does not give a technical diagnosis beyond an air data systems failure, but the reported failure points to the flight instruments that feed the crew the information needed to keep the aircraft stable.
AAIB probe into BA919
British Airways said, “We're assisting the AAIB with its investigation and are legally unable to comment further at this stage.” The investigation now sits with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which will examine the reported stall and the cockpit response.
For passengers on Flight BA919, the immediate change is that the incident is no longer just a reported near miss; it is now an active safety investigation. The reported captain intervention and the grounded-on-stress-leave claim underline how sharply the flight diverged from a normal approach into Heathrow.
British Airways BA919 stalled at 4,000ft over London is the core account, while related coverage has also tracked another British Airways diversion and a separate British Airways logo swap.
Heathrow approach after July 6
The unresolved point is how the air data systems failure developed and how close the aircraft came to disaster. That is what the AAIB probe now has to answer, and it is the only part of the story that can change the final assessment of the flight.
