A Virgin Atlantic plane has made an emergency landing at Gatwick Airport after a technical fault occurred with one of its landing gears.
The Boeing 747 jumbo jet was seen circling over the airport in West Sussex after the fault was reported.
The aircraft had been travelling to Las Vegas when the pilot made the decision to turn back.
A dramatic photograph showed the jumbo jet landing at Gatwick with the right-side wing landing gear not deployed.
Eyewitnesses reported that the jet was flying at a relatively low altitude and that the pilot appeared to be trying to shake the landing gear down.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">From the back of my camera the state of VIR43Es undercarriage on its fly. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/HDWhwReMG1" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2929226-http://t.co/HDWhwReMG1" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/HDWhwReMG1</a>— Samuel Pilcher (@SamPilcher) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/SamPilcher/status/549583356011479040" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-2929226-https://twitter.com/SamPilcher/status/549583356011479040" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 29, 2014</a>
It eventually touched down safely just before 4pm this afternoon, according to reports.
In a statement, Virgin said: "Virgin Atlantic can confirm that flight VS43 on December 29, travelling to McCarran International Airport Las Vegas, returned to Gatwick due to a technical issue with one of the landing gears.
"The aircraft is preparing to implement a non-standard landing procedure at Gatwick airport. A further update will be issued as soon as possible."
An airline spokesman later confirmed the jet had landed safely.
He said: "We can confirm that the plane has landed safely at Gatwick. Our priority now is to look after our passengers."
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.
A spokesman for Gatwick airport said emergency services were put on standby "as a precaution".
He said: "We can confirm that Virgin Atlantic flight VS043 departed 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."
Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson said on Twitter: "Well done @VirginAtlantic pilots & team for safe & skillful landing of £VS43. Thoughts with passengers & crew, thanks for support & patience."
In November 1997 a Virgin Atlantic captain Tim Barnby won praise for safely landing a Virgin Atlantic Airbus plane at Heathrow after a landing-gear problem.
The plane, flying in from Los Angeles carrying 98 passengers and 16 crew, managed to touch down using three instead of four sets of landing gear.
Nine passengers were treated for minor injuries. Virgin said it had been "fantastic flying".
