The Prime Minister has heaped praise on pilot Peter Burkill and his flight crew aboard the stricken Boeing which crash landed at Heathrow yesterday.

Gordon Brown expressed his relief that the passengers and crew were not harmed in the accident, which happened as he was arriving at the airport to board a flight to China.

A formal investigation has been launched after the plane crash landed short of the runway at the airport narrowly missing a busy road and leaving massive skidmarks in the grass.

It pulled up around 1,000 metres from the plane about to take Mr Brown to Beijing for an official visit.

Reports suggest the packed BA Boeing 777 airliner carrying 136 passengers suffered single engine failure, loss of hydraulics and was running on one engine.

The undercarriage was wrecked and two giant wheel units were ripped off, but miraculously the passengers were safely evacuated and only 18 needed treatment for minor injuries.

On arriving in Beijing later, the Prime Minister said: "I think it's right to pay tribute to the calmness and professionalism of the British Airways staff and the captain and what he achieved in landing the aircraft.

"The speed of the evacuation we saw at first-hand, and the total professionalism and dedication of the staff.

"It's at times like these you remember you are in the hands of staff who do a remarkable job.

"When we arrived at the airport, we knew there was an incident taking place and at the same time we saw the evacuation taking place very quickly indeed.

"I'm very pleased to hear people are safe."