A transatlantic flight to Las Vegas is preparing for an emergency 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 turned back towards London over the Devon coast less than 30 minutes after taking off at just before midday today.
Witnesses said that they saw the jet flying with only three quarters of its landing gear down after a set of wheels on the starboard wing refused to drop.
The plane has made at least one low-level pass over the London Gatwick so engineers can observe the problem and emergency services are on standby.
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.
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.'
Having emergency services on standby for the landing is a standard procedure when a plane has to land with a technical problem.
Experts say the pilot should be able to land the jet..
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