A BRITISH Airways jet carrying 172 passengers sparked an emergency when it reported a hydraulics fault on its approach to Gatwick.

Rescue services were scrambled when the Airbus A321 airliner, flight BA 6881 from Faro, in the Algarve, reported problems 30 minutes from its scheduled landing.

Crew reassured passengers as the pilot told them the aircraft had developed a mechanical fault and would need to be towed after landing.

On the ground, the runway was cleared to make way for a possible emergency landing.

Back-up fire crews from Crawley and Horley were put on standby.

A West Sussex Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said: "Luckily we were not needed.

"This sort of thing happens about twice a week but this was a full emergency because the fault was in the hydraulics system."

Passenger Ian Brayley, from Southampton, said: "We were told there were problems and once we landed the pilot wouldn't be able to steer the plane. Normally when I've flown into Gatwick we seem to circle around a lot but we came straight in this time."

He said everybody on the plane remained calm.

Passenger Helen Brebner, from Stratford-upon-Avon said: "The pilot said there were landing problems and that we would have to be towed."

Some passengers on other flights delayed until the flight landed safely became nervous.

Sophie Bouallegue's flight from Tunis had to keep circling the airport for half an hour while the emergency unfolded.

She said: "The pilot told us there were technical problems on an incoming plane and we actually watched it being towed away. I must admit it did make me a bit nervous."

Before attempting to land the pilot switched to a back-up hydraulic system. The flight landed six minutes ahead of schedule and was towed to a stand where the relieved passengers disembarked.

A spokeswoman from GB Airways, which operates the route for BA, said: "The aircraft has three independent hydraulic systems so when the warning light came on the pilot simply switched over to a reserve.

"The flight landed safely and on schedule and engineers are now investigating the cause of the fault.

"At no time were the passengers, crew or aircraft in any danger. The safety and security of passengers is always our top priority."

A spokeswoman from airport operator BAA said: "If there is a report of a problem - and of course a report doesn't necessarily mean an actual problem until an investigation has taken place - but if a pilot reports a problem for whatever reason we have fully tried and tested plans in place.

"Safety is our priority and the procedures we would have followed today are part of that response procedure.

"In the context of the number of aircraft movements, up to 850 on a busy day, this is a very occasional occurrence."